Tales of the Dragon Riders
by What If Universe
Summary: Hiccup has earned the privilege to kill a dragon, but he doesn't want to kill any dragon, he want to be a Dragon Rider. So he decides to run away with his Night Fury, and makes a real friend along the way who has lost her home and is an outcast like him. Now it's the two of them traveling everywhere, searching for their own home, while making more friends along the way.
1. Leaving

_**So if you didn't read the summary, t****his is a What If Hiccup did actually run away and Astrid didn't stop**** him, mixed with What If Hiccup found Heather and her family was killed by Dagger and she wasn't working for Alvin?**_

——————  


"Leaving. So leaving." Hiccup says, entering the cove while carrying a basket of everything he'll need to leave Berk forever. He didn't really mean to be the best at the dragon training, or earn the right to kill one. He was just testing to see if the things that he did with Toothless affected other type of dragons the same way.

Like how if you scratch under his chin, he became disoriented, how the grass made him act like a puppy, and they affect the dragons all the same way. It just works a little too well.

He never had any intention on actually winning the honor of killing a dragon. The only way he could see as an out, leave Berk for good with Toothless. It may be a bit drastic, but the village never understood him either way. So leaving seemed the best of the options for everyone.

"We're leaving." He says again, calling out for Toothless who seemed to be absent all of a sudden.

"Looks like you and I will be taking a little vacation. Forever." Hiccup puts his basket down and makes sure he didn't forget anything.

"Hey, Toothless! Come on. I'd like to get going before somebody gets suspicious to where I run off to." Hiccup calls his dragon as Toothless makes his way to him and he wraps the basket for a few days worth of food and water for the both of them.

"Come on, bud." Hiccup says as he states then mounts Toothless.

"It's not like anyone will miss me anyway." He says as they fly off into the sky.

Seconds after he takes off, Astrid comes into the cove and just misses him and sees nothing and doesn't notice the fading figure in the air.

-

In the sky, Hiccup and Toothless start flying away from Berk, when they see a shipwreck off the coast on the opposite side of the island. "Hey, that's not one of ours." Hiccup tells himself and he tells Toothless to land near the boat.

Hiccup leans inside and sees a teenager around his age, long dark hair, short and skinny, nothing like the other people from his village. She looks more lHe leans in and shakes her, "Hey there." He shakes her, trying to wake her and trying not to frighten her, which failed.

She wakes up and sees him and moves back. "Hey, it's okay. I'm a friend." Hiccup tells her, trying to assure her.

"Do you have any water?" She asks Hiccup, and he goes to his basket and grabs one of his containers of water for her and goes back to hand it to her. "Thank you." She tells him and drinks some and hands it back. "Where am I?" She asks Hiccup. "This is Berk." Hiccup tells her.

Toothless pushed past Hiccup to see her and she freaks out. "Hey, it's okay. Don't be afraid. He won't hurt you." Hiccup tells her and helps her out of the wreckage. "How did you do that?" She asks him.

"I earned his trust. It took some doing and some regrettable decisions." Hiccup tells her, regarding the fact he ate fish Toothless has spat out, but he wasn't gonna tell her that. "I'm Hiccup." He introduces himself. "Heather." She says introducing herself to him.

"So, how did you end up here?" Hiccup asks Heather. "My family and I were on a boat, heading to our island when we were attacked by some other village. They took over the boat and took us back to our island, it was a massacre...I was able to escape. But my mother and father...they weren't so lucky." She explained, sadly. "I think they were called the Beserker tribe."

Hiccup knows the exact tribe, and seeing Oswald the Agreeable would never do something like this, he has to guess it was his son Dagur the Deranged. "I'm sorry to hear that. So what happened to your boat?" Hiccup asks.

"I was caught up in a storm, got knocked unconscious." She explains.

"Oh yeah, that thunderstorm a few days back." Hiccup thinks back to when he first read the _Book of Dragons_ and there was that curvier thunder storm they had that night.

"You've been here ever since?" He asks her. "You got nowhere to go? Maybe I can take you back to my village." Hiccup offers. "I...don't know. It looks like you were heading somewhere." Heather says, referring to the pack on Toothless' back.

"Yeah, I was kinda...leaving." Hiccup states honestly, since it's not like she was going to tell anyone he knows. "Why?" She asks curiously, she didn't know the guy, but saw he was torn about something.

"My entire village hunts and kills dragons. And I'm the only one of them to see the truth behind them." Hiccup explains to her.

"Why protect him? Everyone fears dragons." She wonders, never meeting someone who would willingly spend time with one of them. "I could show you." Hiccup offers as Toothless gets angry.

"You know, I don't think he likes me." Heather says watching the dragons react to her .

"No, he's harmless. Here." Hiccup says, mounting Toothless. He holds his hand out to Heather as she takes it and mounts up behind him. "Toothless, gently." Hiccup says as Toothless spreads his wings to take off. "See?" Hiccup tells her as Toothless is actually complying. "He's nothing to be afraid of." He states as they get ready to take off.

Toothless slowly lifts off into the skies and Heather gets scared as Toothless takes them high up into the clouds. He then dives down and starts to slowly glide across the sky. Heather slowly let's go of Hiccup and raises her hands as they fly through the clouds and out into the ocean. Heather has never seen anything as beautiful as this in her life.

"Wow, you were right. This is incredible." Heather says to Hiccup enjoying everything. "He's incredible. And I think I'd like to learn how." She says, as she petting Toothless' head and he purrs. Hiccup wonders if she does want to learn. "So, where are you guys headed?" Heather asks him.

"We're...not entirely sure." Hiccup admits. "I planed on just roaming-" he gets interrupted as Toothless starts taking control and flies them away. "Toothless, where are we going?" Hiccup asks as they fly into a fog.

They keep flying and see a Monsterous Nightmare. "Get down." Hiccup tells Heather and they duck down and Toothless keeps flying and the riders see more dragons of different species coming from the fog. "What's going on?" Heather asks.

"I don't know. Toothless, you gotta get us out of here, bud." Hiccup tells him. They look and see the dragons have food. "Looks like they're hauling in their kill." Hiccup says. "And what does that make us?" Heather asks as they keep flying. After a while, they enter a side of a volcano. Toothless comes in and they see its Dragon Island.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this." Hiccup states as Toothless lands and they see all the dragons dropping the food into a pit. "Well, it's satisfying to learn all the raiding for our food is just to have it thrown into a hole." Hiccup says to Heather remembering the thousands of raids over the years seem to be for nothing.

"How come they're not eating any of it?" Heather asks him as they see a Groncle come in and drop a small fish into the hole.

They hear a growl coming from underneath the fog and a gigantic dragon eats the Groncle. Heather and Hiccup look in shock. "What...is that?" Heather asks. "Toothless, you gotta get us out of here." Hiccup says as the giant dragon starts sniffing and smells them. "Now!" Hiccup says as they take off before the dragon can get them as they all fly off.

Toothless flies them to the closest island. "It makes so much sense now. That's why dragons are constantly attacking villages. It's that dragon. It's like a hive. They're the workers and that's their queen, and it controls them." Heather says as they land.

"That means, if we take her down, the dragon raids would stop." Hiccup says, putting the pieces together. "Wait...you're not thinking of taking that thing on, are you?" Heather asks. "...maybe. I mean, I've done stupider." Hiccup admits and Heather knows she's not letting him do something this crazy alone. "Okay, what's our plan?" Heather asks. "Our?" Hiccup asks her, confused.

"Well, it's not like I've got anywhere to be. Besides, where else am I gonna go?" Heather says. "Well...If you're gonna stay with us, you're gonna need a dragon." Hiccup states remembering how she said she wanted to learn.

"Where can we find one not under that queens control and won't just kill us?" Heather asks. "...Berk." Hiccup says, knowing that if Heather's gonna travel with them, she's gonna need her own dragon. Especially if they're gonna take down the Red Death.

So Hiccup seew he has to visit his home one last time.

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**_Let's just pretend that Berk had a Razerwhip along with the other dragons for the next chapter._**

**_So, thoughts?_**

**_Should I continue this?_**


	2. Shearing through the wind

In the dead of night, Toothless flies low towards Berk to not get spotted by anyone around with Hiccup and Heather on his back while staying low to not stand out as they make their way to the Dragon Arena to get Heather her own dragon. When they arrive, Hiccup makes sure the coast is clear, not noticing Astrid hiding and watching him.

Hiccup sees no one around and sneaks Toothless and Heather in as he looks at the cages and chooses the best one for Heather. He walks over to the one holding a Razorwhip and pulls the lever to start opening the doors.

"What are you doing?" Heather asks him as he opens the gate and the silver dragon exits.

"Trust me." Hiccup tells her as the Razorwhip starts coming out slowly towards Hiccup. He holds his hand out and walks back slowly.

"It's okay...it's okay." Hiccup tells the dragon calmly before stepping back towards Heather and grabs her hand.

"Okay, now hold your hand out slowly and just look away. This is how me and Toothless bonded." Hiccup tells her and Heather does as he says and the dragon starts sniffing her hand and puts her nostril to it.

Heather looks in shock and starts smiling before scratching the dragons chin. "Hey there, girl. You're not so scary." Heather says as Hiccup moves across the arena. "Wait, where you going?" She asks him, not thinking she's got the hang of it yet.

"You're gonna want to hold onto something." Hiccup says as he holds up some equipment he needs to make her a saddle. "Trust me, bare dragon back gets uncomfortable." He explains and she understands that.

Hiccup then makes his way to the forge and starts making her saddle, it took a while and he had to remain quiet. He starts to sneak back into the woods but when he notices Astrid, he quickly starts sneaking into the woods where Heather is waiting for him and trying to not be spotted by Astrid.

"Hey, you okay?" She asks him, seeing him look scared. "I was just almost spotted. But it's okay, I wasn't followed." Hiccup says as he helps put the saddle on her dragon.

"So, you thought of anything to call her?" Hiccup asks while strapping the saddle down.

"I was thinking something strong, fierce and smart. Like Windshear." Heather says.

"Nice." Hiccup comments on her name as he helps her on the dragon and jumps on Toothless. "Let's ride." He says while he's adjusting his dragons tailfin and they fly off to fight the Red Death.

Meanwhile, Astrid sees the two dragons take off into the sky and can't believe what she's seen. She saw Hiccup and some girl she's never met before sneak off and fly off on two of the most dangerous dragons and ran off to tell the chief of what she found.

-

In the skies near The island, Heather and Hiccup are flying to fight off the Red Death and to finally bring the dragon raids to an end. Maybe even stop the war between the two.

"You know, it's not too late to turn back if you want." Hiccup tells her. "I've come this far, why stop now?" Heather states and Hiccup smiles and is happy to see he has one (human) friend throughout all of this. They make it to the island.

"What are we gonna do?" Heather asks, thinking they should've discussed the plan beforehand.

"I'm planning to do something stupid." Hiccup says as he flies up to the top of the mountain and Heather starts shooting a hole into the side of the mountain to draw the Red Death out using Windshear's tail and her fire blasts. Inside the mountain, Toothless fires at the Red Death and agitates it and it starts coming after them

Hiccup and Toothless fly towards the hole that Heather made for him and they fly out as the Red Death destroys a whole part of the mountain and all of the dragons fly away form the fight.

"Well, she's a bigger queen than I thought." Heather says as she avoids the fire from the queen.

The Red Death starts pulling her and Windshear in as Toothless comes down and blasts the queen stopping the queen and Heather looser her balance and falls off Windshear and she begins to fall.

Toothless turns around and flies fast and grabs onto her, before she could hit the ground. "Did you get her?" Hiccup asks Toothless.

Toothless looks under him and sees Heather smile at him. "Hey." She says while waving at him. Toothless puts his tongue out and smiles at her. Windshear comes underneath them and Toothless flips Heather over and drops her back onto Windshear's back and they go back to fighting.

"That thing has wings!" Hiccup tells her, getting a closer look at the thing and that gives them some ideas.

"Well, let's see if it can use them." Heather says as Hiccup turns around and flies fast then blasts the dragon, then flies away and wait for something.

"Do you think that worked?" Heather asks him as they turn and see the Red Death flying behind them slowly with its gigantic wings.

"Well, she can fly." Hiccup states as they split up and the Death follows Hiccup into the air. "Okay, bud, time to disappear." Hiccup says as they fly into the clouds and the Red Death gets ready to fire.

The queen looks around for them and can't see them. Hiccup starts blasting it from the sky, staying clear of its 6 eyes as the Red Death starts shooting fire everywhere out of anger.

"Watch out!" Hiccup yells as they avoid the flames as the Red Death tries stopping them. "Okay, let's see if this works." Hiccup says as they fly towards the Red Death and bast again. It sees them and starts chasing them.

"Just hold on, bud. Stay with me." Hiccup says as they wait for the right moment as they come closer to the ground and the Red Death gets ready to strike. "Now!" Hiccup yells as Toothless flips around and blasts into the queen's mouth.

The queen then begins to fall fast into the ground and Toothless flies high away from the ground and runs into the tail and gets hit off of Toothless. Toothless turns around and flies into the flames to rescue him.

Heather waits for the dust to clear and starts looking for Hiccup, trying to see if he survived. She shouts for him, searches everywhere until she finds Toothless laying on the ground with no Hiccup.

"Oh no." Heather says as she falls on her knees in sadness. Toothless wakes up and sees her next to him. "Hiccup..." She states sadly as Toothless opens his wings to reveal Hiccup.

"Hiccup!" Heather shouts and checks for a pulse.

"He's okay." She says, happily and scratches the dragons nostril.

"You saved him. Thank you." She tells the dragon for saving her only friend and notices his foot. "Oh, no." She states seeing what happened.

-

Days have passed since the fight have been won, and Hiccup starts waking up and sees he's laying against Toothless and a blanket he packed covering him. "Ow." Hiccup says as he feels a headache starting up and Toothless jumps up from healing his voice.

"Hey, Toothless. What happened?" He asks his dragon and looks up to see Windshear and Heather flying in and land near him seeing he's awake and Heather is relieved.

"Hiccup!" She shouts and runs to the two friends and knees down next to him.

"Hey, Heather. What happened?" Hiccup asks her, since the last thing he remember is falling to his death.

"When you took down the Red Death, you got hit. Toothless was able to save you, but..." she doesn't know how to explain what happened to him as he removes the blanket and sees for himself. His leg was gone and replaced by a handmade leg.

"I used some pieces from Toothless and Windshear's saddles and put it together along with whatever I could find here. I was practicing to be a healer back on my island, I was able to stop the infection before I placed it as good as I could." She tells him and helps him stand. Hiccup tries taking a few steps and Heather helps him as they look and see no dragons around.

"Where'd they all go?" Hiccup asks. "I saw them fly off when we killed their queen, but I don't know where to." Heather explains and is just happy to see he's okay.

"So, what's the plan?" She asks him. "Well, the plan is still the same as it was before." Hiccup says as he walks to Toothless and makes sure his tail still works. "If you want, you can take Windshear now I'm half to health." Hiccup tells her.

"You know what, I'm stay with you guys." Heather states. "Really?" Hiccup asks never having someone stick by his side, especially when things go as bad as this. "Sure, why not? If you really want to." Hiccup says as he mounts Toothless.

"So, where to?" He asks her.

"How about we just fly and see where the sky takes us?" Heather asks him and he's okay with that plan.

"Let's do it." Hiccup says as they fly off away from the Archipelago. Far away from the place he once thought was the only place he could call home.


	3. The greater beyond

Hiccup and Heather have been flying for hours, waiting to find somewhere to call their own when they're hit by a terrible storm. The skies went almost pitch black, rain was pouring down upon them both, nonstop.

"Hiccup, I think we should turn back." Heather suggests as the storm gets worse the further they go.

"We just have to keep pushing forward until we're out of this storm." Hiccup says and he sees daylight up ahead. "Come on, fly to the light!" Hiccup tells her as they fly though the clouds and break through the storm and see new uncharted islands everywhere.

"Looks like there's a place up ahead we can land." Hiccup tells Heather when they hear something and that's when Toothless and Windshear start acting strange.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, girl?" Heather asks her dragon as Windshear is shaking her head and it looks like as if she goes into a trance.

"Heather, do you hear that?" Hiccup asks her.

"Yeah, what is that?" She asks him, never hearing anything like it before.

"I've never heard anything like it, but it would seem the dragons are getting drawn towards it." Hiccup says. "And I guess we're going there." They start flying towards the nearest island and finally land after traveling all day.

-

They make it to the island and see the white, sandy beach, the forest surrounding most of the island and the mountains in the distance. The island is just incredible, and looks safe enough for the two species.

"This place is beautiful." Heather says as she looks around in amazement.

"Yeah, I wonder if there's any new dragons out this far." Hiccup says as they start getting set up for the night.

Later, they're eating the food Hiccup packed while Windshear and Toothless are asleep behind them.

"So, should we discuss what's gonna happen?" Heather asks Hiccup.

"Do you want to happen?" Hiccup asks her.

"If you wanna stay with me and Toothless, you and Windshear are welcome to stay. We just need to find a good place to stay, build our own place. Maybe we could even help out more villages with their dragons. Show them they're not dangerous." Hiccup tells her as he finishes eating.

"Like I said before, I got nowhere else to be." Heather says and that means she's sticking by his side.

"I mean, this is only the beginning. Who knows what there is to find?" Hiccup asks as he gets up to go to bed. "Well, I'm gonna get some rest. I'd suggest staying near Windshear. Dragons have the urge to protect the people they trust." Hiccup explains to her as he moves closer to Toothless.

When they're sound asleep, the sound comes back and the dragons wake up.

-

Heather just starts waking up when Hiccup comes up to her. "Heather." Hiccup wakes her. "Do you hear that?" He asks her.

"Hear what?" Heather asks as she sits up. "I don't hear anything." She tells Hiccup.

"Exactly, it's gone, the sound is gone...including our dragons." Hiccup tells her and she looks to realize Windshear is gone and so is Toothless.

Later, they're in the woods looking for them. "Windshear!" "Toothless!" They both call out for their dragons.

"Nothing. I don't get it. Where would they go? Toothless can't fly without me, so he didn't leave. You and Windshear just recently bonded, at that stage, Toothless never left my side." Hiccup says as they keep searching and hear something behind them. They see bushes tussling and Toothless jumps out and tackled Hiccup and he laughs.

"There you are, bud. Where did you go?" Hiccup asks him and Toothless is circling around them while growling.

"Is Toothless okay?" Heather wonders, confused why he's acting like this.

"I don't know, I've never seen him like this before. I think he's trying to say something." Hiccup says and kneels down in front of Toothless. "What is it, bud? Is it Windshear?" Hiccup asks his dragon as Toothless grabs his foot and runs off into the forest.

"Uh...How long is it gonna take for him to notice?" Heather asks as Hiccup sits up.

"Hard to say. He seemed pretty commented." Hiccup says and looks to see Toothless stole his new leg.

"Guess it's not as steady as I thought." Heather tells him, feeling a bit disappointed in herself. "Well I doubt you expected Toothless to steal my leg." Hiccup states to her and she laughs at that.

Toothless keeps going suddenly notices has his leg and not his whole Rider. He gets annoyed, not yet adjusted to his leg and runs back to them.

Toothless comes back and hands him his leg back. "That's okay, bud. I like the enthusiasm." Hiccup tells Toothless and hops on his back.

"Come on, Heather." Hiccup tells her and she gets on his back and they take off and see a Thunderdrum dragon on the distance and notices them and growled.

"I think that's our que to go." Heather states and Hiccup agrees as the Thunderdrum comes after them, but they loose him and keep making their way through the jungle and see fog and darkness the further they go.

"This place has just got dark and creepy." Heather says.

"Yeah, I agree." Hiccup says as they keep walking and see a pile of dragon bones.

"Are those...?" Heather asks Hiccup, not wanting to finish the thought.

"Yeah, I think they are. Dragon bones." Hiccup says and Toothless walks up to them. Heather finds an amber like substance on the ground.

"What is this stuff?" Heather asks Hiccup and he hasn't seen it.

"No idea. Never seen anything like it." Hiccup tells her looking at it and they hear a screech. Toothless reacts and starts running off and they follow him.

They go into a cave like cavern and see thousands of dragons trapped in strong amber. They see Groncles, Zipplebacks, Nadders, and some Terrible Terrors and they're all trapped

Hiccup starts getting an idea of what's happening. "It looks like something is trapping these dragons in this amber rock like substance and..."

"Eating them." Heather finishes Hiccup's thought for him.

They hear a shriek and run to hide as a dragon they've never seen before comes in. It has a Dilophosaurus like face with wings of a butterflywith it's wing length and color. They wait and hide as the dragon takes another dragon and leaves.

"Toothless, no!" Hiccup shouts as Toothless seemed to be hypnotized.

"It has to be the sound. That song it sings, that we heard over the ocean, that's what draws them in." Hiccup tells Heather. "You've seen anything like that on Berk?" Heather asks.

"Not that I know of. But if it's drawing in these dragons, it must've done the same to Windshear." Hiccup explains to her. "We have to find her and get out of here." He tells her and start looking until they see her.

"Windshear!" Heather shouts and runs to her dragon as the new dragon comes back and Toothless charges at it. Toothless blasts at it and misses the Deathsong as it shoots its amber spit and traps Toothless. "No!" Hiccup shouts and runs to him.

"Heather, get Windshear free, fast!" He tells her as he tries helping Toothless as the Deathsong aims for Hiccup.

"Hiccup, it's coming for you!" Heather shouts as Hiccup sees it.

Heather runs and pushes Hiccup as the Deathsong blasts its amber and traps her. Hiccup gets up and sees her. "Heather!" He shouts and sees the Deathsong comes for him and runs through a crack in the wall of the mountain.

He makes it though and slips down a steep hill and screams on his way down and sees the Thunderdrum from earlier. "Oh, hi. Remember me?" Hiccup asks and stands up and takes his shield from Berk out in front of him. "Okay, So, I was thinking..." Hiccup starts with but the Thunderdrum shrieks at him and Hiccup dodges it by raising his shield over his head. "Note for the new _Book of Dragons, _Thunderdrums don't care for other species much." Hiccup tells himself as the Thunderdrum charges at him and moves him out of the way as amber comes flying down and he sees the Deathsong is back.

Deathsong and the Thunderdrum begin to fight and the Deathsong tackles him.

"Don't worry. I got your back." Hiccup says as his shield shoots out a rope, making sure the Deathsong can't shoot more amber.

"That's not gonna hold him for long." Hiccup says as he puts his shield back on.

"Okay, you might not like what I'm about to do, but trust me, it's gonna work out for both of us." Hiccup says as he jumps on top of the Thunderdrum and it takes off into the air.

"Haven't we be over this?!" Hiccup yells as the Thunderdrum starts spinning around.

"I said I'm trying to help the both of us. Don't you listen?!" Hiccup asks the dragon and remembers something. "Of course you don't listen, you're a Thunderdrum, and Thunderdrums are one of the few hard of hearing dragons." Hiccup realizes from what he read in the _Book of Dragons _back on Berk.

The Thunderdrum goes and dives into the ground and Hiccup falls off its back. Hiccup gets up and feels for any injuries and feels nothing. "At least we lost the Deathsong." Hiccup says, naming the dragon.

"Oh, no, I can't believe this is actually happening. I should've made her leave, despite the fact she's the only girl, or anybody for that matter of fact, that has actually spoken to me like a person and not a mistake. And is an outcast, like me. But now she's cocooned with her and my dragon in that rock stuff, I'm being chased by an angry Deathsong, and I'm stuck here with a Thunderdrum who can't hear a thing I'm saying." Hiccup yells, regretting leaving Berk to cause all of this to happen, until he realizes something.

"Wait a second. If you can hardly hear a thing, then you probably can't hear the Deathsong's call. And if you can't hear the Deathsong, then it can't lure you in. No wonder you haven't been caught and you're all alone." Hiccup tells the Thunderdrum who still can't hear him.

He then starts holding his hand out like he did with Toothless when he earned his trust. "You know what, mr. Thunderdrum? You're gonna help me get my friend back. And I'm gonna make sure that dragon never bothers you again." Hiccup says and waits to see what the Thunderdrum thinks and gains the Thunderdrum's trust. He gets on top of him and takes off to save Heather, Toothless and Windshear.

-

Back in the cave, Heather is leaned against Toothless as he's struggling to get out.

"Don't worry, Toothless. Hiccup will be back." Heather tells the dragon when suddenly Toothless gets thrown a few feet and she sees Hiccup and a Thunderdrum.

"Okay, so ramming the cocoon won't work." Hiccup says on top of the dragon.

"Please tell me you have a plan B?" Heather asks him.

"Well, cutting, ramming or ripping most likely won't do anything, our plans are limited." Hiccup tells her.

"I know. Once this stuff cools down, it's just rock solid." Heather comments getting annoyed.

"Wait a minute...cooled down." Hiccup says getting an idea.

He goes over to a Monsterous Nightmare and starts using it's flammable gel and rubs it over all of the cocoons.

"This can't be your best plan." Heather tells him as Hiccup places some of the gel on her cocoon.

"It's the only plan I have left. The only other option being a dragons dinner." Hiccup tells her as he hears the Deathsong. "Uh oh." He says and hides as it comes back and takes a Groncle.

"This does not look good." Heather states as Hiccup starts pouring more of the gel across her cocoon.

"Don't worry. There's tons of more appetizing dragons around. You won't look as appetizing." Hiccup tells Heather to calm her down. "Besides, it'll take him a while to eat that thing." He tells her and hears it already comes back for second's.

"Or I don't know a lot about this dragon." Hiccup states and runs for cover as the Deathsong flies down to Toothless and Heather.

"And it's going for the two for the price of one meal." Heather states as Hiccup flies down on the Thunderdrum.

"Hey, Remember us?" Hiccup asks as the Deathsong chases after them.

In the skies, it tries shooting them down and Hiccup does a quick flip and dives back down and uses his prosthetic leg to spike a flame to light up the gel and drops. The spare lights the gel and it starts breaking the cocoons on them all and they're free.

"Yes! It worked!" Heather shouts as Toothless gets free and shakes the amber off him. Windshear comes over and licks Heather happy they're okay. Toothless runs over to Hiccup and licks him over and over.

"Hey, bud, good to see you." He says and feels the saliva still on his face.

"I don't think that's gonna wash off." Hiccup tells him as the Deathsong comes back. Hiccup hears a cry and sees a baby Thunderdrum that can't fly because he's in amber.

"It's an adolescent Thunderdrum. No wonder he stuck around." Hiccup realizes. "Heather, see if you can get the Thunderdrum. I'm gonna handle the Deathsong." Hiccup states and flies off. "_Deathsong_?" Heather asks, not knowing he named the dragon and just gets to work on freeing the baby.

-

In the sky, the Deathsong is chasing Toothless and Hiccup. "Let's relocate this guy...permanently." Hiccup tells Toothless as they fly around the island looking here to put him and finds a closely closed cave.

"Okay, mr. Deathsong, welcome to your new home." Hiccup yells to him as they fly into the cave and the Deathsong follows and Toothless lets out a roar.

"Wait, What are you doing?" Hiccup asks as Toothless starts navigating in the dark. "Okay, I can't see, but clearly you can." Hiccup says and trusts Toothless to get them out as the Deathsong crashes into the wall.

As they leave the cave, the Thunderdrum blasts the opening and closes it, Toothless blasts it and blocks the opening completely.

"Thanks, big guy. No ones gonna hear his song in there." Hiccup tells him as Heather flies by with the baby Thunderdrum at hand. The baby and parent reunite and Heather moves over to Hiccup.

"If I were you, I'd find someplace to live." Hiccup tells the Thunderdrum family. "I don't know how long that's gonna hold." He states. "Aren't Thunderdrums hard of hearing?" Heather asks him. "Yes, I know. Let's get ourselves out of here." Hiccup states as they fly away.

Over the ocean, "Heather, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for having you dragged into that. If you wanna turn back-" Hiccup couldn't finish as Heather interrupts.

"Are you crazy? This is more fun I've had in my entire life." Heather tells him. "I ain't going anywhere, dragon boy." Heather states to him and Hiccup smiles to having a friend with him. "There's just one thing we still need, though." Heather informs him.

"What's that?" Hiccup asks her.

"We still need an island of our own, you know? Someplace safe for us and our dragons. We know outer Vikings would just attack them, and might see us as traitors and try to attack us." Heather explains and Hiccup agrees.

"Okay, then let's see what's out there." Hiccup says as they start flying, looking for a island for them and their dragons.

Somewhere safe and secure they can call home, together. Far away from the Vikings who despise dragons.


	4. Home

A week after the Deathsong, Hiccup and Heather have been looking for their own island, and as of now is running from wild boars.

"I think we shouldn't have gone this far from the dragons!" Heather states as they reach a ledge and sees they're stuck.

"Yeah, this was my bad." Hiccup admits and they turn back to the board

"You've got any idea?" Heather asks Hiccup and he starts to quickly think.

"Weapons. We need weapons." Hiccup states to Heather while looking around for something they could use.

"We have no weapons." Heather states as the boars come charging at them when Windshear flies up and shoots her spikes at them and the boars run scared of the dragon.

"Nice save, girl." Heather compliments her dragon and they get on her to find Toothless.

-

Later, they're back in the sky flying away. "Okay, so we can check that island off the list." Hiccup says to Heather and they keep flying away.

"Well, we'll just have to keep looking until we find somewhere safe, secure and habitable for both us and our dragons." Heather tells him.

"I thought I said that to you." Hiccup states to her.

"I know, I'm just repeating it like you did for the first day." Heather states to him.

"I said I'm sorry. I didn't know I was repeating it that often." Hiccup explains to her and she laughs at him.

"Come on, let's check this island." Hiccup says as they come across another one.

They fly up and land on it. "Okay, at first glance, it's not so bad." Hiccup comments as he's looking around.

"Yeah. There's lots of fresh water, seems like plenty of food." Heather agrees with Hiccup and they see bushes.

"Hey, what are these flowers?" Heather asks as she and Windshear move towards them. Hiccup goes to another bush and sees them.

"Oh, no. They're Blue oleander. Poisonous to reptiles." Hiccup warns Heather as Windshear is sniffing the flowers.

"Uh oh. How dangerous?" Heather asks Hiccup. "Depends on how long they're exposed." Hiccup explains and Windshear sneezes fire everywhere.

"Okay, we're leaving." Heather states, not wanting harm to come to Windshear or Toothless.

-

Back in the air, they see another island coming up. "Okay, let's see what's wrong with this island." Hiccup comments, not being surprised at this point as they fly toward the island. "What are those dots all over the island?" Heather asks Hiccup and he quickly stops and sees them himself.

"Whispering Deaths!" Hiccup screams as dragons come tunneling out of the ground.

"Next!" Heather states and they fly away not dealing with those guys.

-

They soon come across another island farther away from the others. "This looks pretty good." Hiccup says as they're flying around the island.

"Those cliffs could work for sightlines, easily defendable." Heather states as she looks around the island and is already getting dozens of ideas to what they can do.

"And it looks great. Looks perfect for us and the dragons." Hiccup says to Heather and they fly in to land.

"And he repeated himself again." Heather states and they find a good clearing and let the dragons rest.

"Okay, were almost out of food and water from the supplies from Berk, so we need to set up camp for tonight and find some place to resupply, dry wood for fire, and maybe a few traps to scare off wild animals until we get a lay of the land in the morning." Hiccup tells Heather.

"You know, I do know what we need since we've been doing the same thing for the last several days." Heather says and starts looking for water with Windshear.

"Okay, stay safe." Hiccup tells her.

"You say that every time." Heather again states.

"Better safe than sorry." Hiccup tells her as she goes out of site. "Okay, bud. Looks like we're on fire duty." Hiccup tells Toothless and his dragon just goes to sleep.

"Looks like _I'm_on fire duty, you lazy dragon." Hiccup says and Toothless shoots a plasma blast at him and Hiccup dodges it, just barely.

"Hey!" Hiccup yells at his dragon as he chuckles at Hiccup. "Thanks again for nothing, you useless reptile." Hiccup states to Toothless.

At night, Toothless suddenly joints up after hearing something in the woods.

"Something wrong, bud?" Hiccup asks his dragon, since his dragon accidentally woke him, as he seems to be searching for something when he just goes back to sleep.

"Is he okay?" Heather asks while eating her dinner.

"Yeah, I guess he's just tired from the flying these past few days." Hiccup explains. "Well, I'm gonna go to sleep. See you in the morning." Hiccup says to Heather as he starts going to sleep against Windshear's wings.

-

Later at night, the fire has gone out and howling comes from the woods, waking Hiccup. "What was that?" He asks and sees Heather starts waking up.

"What was what?" She asks, not hearing anything.

"I heard something in the woods." Hiccup tells her.

They go investigate the noise and leave their dragons to sleep. They hear something in the bushes up ahead of them.

"It could be some wild animal." Heather states to Hiccup as they move the bushes to see a chicken. "Told you." Heather states seeing she's right.

"That was weird, I imagined the noise to be something bigger." Hiccup tells Heather as she rolls her eyes.

"Well, I'm going back to sleep." Heather says turning around when something blocks out the moons light and they look up to see a giant dragon.

"Oh...my...Thor." Heather says and they run for it.

When they reach the beach, they stop to catch their breath. "What...the Thor was that?" Heather asks Hiccup.

"There has never been a dragon that big recorded in history of dragons." Hiccup tells her.

"Maybe we should look and see if it's a threat to us." Heather suggests.

"Maybe we should wish for the daylight to do that. It's late and we need sleep. The dragons will protect us." Hiccup suggests and she sees that's the best course to take.

-

Next morning, they start searching for the dragon and can't find anything. "Okay, we both definitely didn't just hallucinate the dragon. So where'd it go?" Heather asks Hiccup as they've been looking for hours.

"Well, Maybe we can have better luck finding it at night. It could be a nocturnal dragon." Hiccup suggests to her.

"Then maybe we can start building a place for us to stay in." Heather agrees with his idea and go back to the shore for the day to work on building their outpost.

Later that day, they wrapped up the things they need and start searching again for the dragon at night, this time with their dragons. They've been searching for a few hours and Hiccup sees that Heather is falling asleep on Windshear's saddle.

"Okay, that's when we call it a night. I guess the dragon isn't showing itself." Hiccup says to Heather as they gets startled by a loud roar and see the dragon appearing from the trees.

"It's heading for our campsite!" Heather states that it'll destroy all their process from the day. Windshear speeds off towers the dragon and they start firing at it when it separates into millions of dragons.

"What in the name of..." Hiccup asks seeing them. "It's not one big dragon." Hiccup realizes.

"It's tons of little one?" Heather asks confused.

They see the black dragons flying around the white dragon. "They're joining back up around the white one." Heather realizes.

"He must be the leader." Hiccup states. "But...What are they?" Hiccup asks them and they decide to fly off and leave them.

They fly back to their camp and Hiccup tries drawling them from memory. "They looked sorta like Terrible Terrors. But all dark and differently shaped." Heather states to Hiccup.

"And as we guessed, they must be nocturnal. Since we didn't see them during the day." Hiccup says as he keeps drawling.

"I don't recall seeing anything like it in the _Book of Dragons_. It must be a new species. Which means we get to name them." Hiccup states to her.

"Then Maybe we should call them...Night Terrors." Heather suggests to Hiccup.

"Okay, Night Terrors it is." Hiccup states as he finishes the drawling. "What do you think?" He asks Heather showing the drawling.

"Yeah, I'd say that's as close as we can get without seeing them up close." Heather says to Hiccup.

"Yeah, if we're gonna live in peace with the dragons here, we're gonna have to show them we're not here to threaten them." Hiccup says as he looks at the diagram of their outpost.

"How do we do that?" Heather asks him.

"I'm not sure as of now how to get them to like us. But for now, let's focus on our outpost." Hiccup states as they get to work.

"You know, I was thinking. What if we called our place something, like maybe the "Edge"? Like a sanctuary for both outcasts like us or Vikings and dragons anywhere." Heather explains to him.

"You know, I like that idea. And I like that name. Dragons Edge. It gives people the message were friendly and not gonna strike first." Hiccup states as he gets back to work. They knew it would be hard work for the two of them, but in the end all of it would be worth it when they have a place to call home.


	5. New outlook

It has been a year since Hiccup left Berk and met Heather, and it sometimes gives and takes with their new life after running away. It took them a few months to build their new home, Dragons Edge, and they're trying to train the dragons on the island and come across another dangerous dragon.

The dark, gloomy day didn't exactly help them with locating it. This dragon is a tall black and yellow dragon with three shakers on its tail called a Triple Stryke as it tries attacking them.

Hiccup raises his shield made from Groncle iron and dodges it's attack. Toothless gets ready to fight the dragon.

"Toothless, no! We're trying to train it." Hiccup tells his dragon not wanting to harm it.

"How can we train it, if we can't get near it? This one is the most aggressive dragon on the island." Heather says behind Windshear holding her double sided axe Hiccup also made with Groncle iron.

"Well, I guess after all of the dragon raiding, not all dragons just take a custom to liking people. Especially ex-Vikings like the two of us. We just have to show him we're friends."

"Hiccup, you know, maybe we should take in a possibility, that this Triple Stryke is just untrainable." Heather states since this is their fifteenth attempt to train this one dragon.

"Well, if we could get it to understand we're the good guys, we can have him fight with us and not against us."

The Triple Stryke moves closer to them and is getting angry with them.

"Windshear, spine shot!" Heather says and the Stryke moves backwards to avoid the shots.

"Come on, we've dealt with worse than them. But maybe we should start heading back. There seems to be a storm heading for us, and that means we have to get back to the Sanctuary before it gets closer." Hiccup says and looks back to the Stryke. "But rest assured, we're not finished." He informs the dragon, trying to make peace with it.

The Stryke Just growls at them as they fly off leaving him alone.

-

They fly back to the Edge and Heather start rounding up the Night Terrors and the other dragons into the stables and Hiccup starts closing everything down and they head to the center dome for protection. Hiccup lands and closes the door and Heather walks to him.

"Did you remember to drop off the food at the stables for the dragons?" She asks him.

"Yep. They should be good for a while in there." Hiccup states and Toothless starts a fire in the center of the dome.

They hear a lighting blast and dragons screaming. They reopen the doors and see the stables on fire.

"The dragons are in trouble!" Hiccup shouts as they get on their dragons and fly up towards the doors and open them to see the dragons crying for help.

"Okay, let's start moving them to the arena before this place comes crashing on us!" Hiccup tells Heather as she starts unlocking them.

They get most of them out when a barrier starts falling down above them. Hiccup pulls Heather out of the way as it comes down and they get up to see a Night Terror grapes behind the fallen debris.

"Let's get him out of there, fast!" Hiccup shouts and they run back in as another bolt hits the stand.

"Hiccup, it's getting dangerous!" Heather states seeing the place is falling apart every second.

"Almost got him!" Hiccup says as he grabs the last Night Terror and starts making his way out with Heather following when a lightning bolt flashes and it hits Hiccup forward and hits Heather back inside the hut.

"Heather!" Hiccup shouts as the dragons fly off to avoid another blast like that.

Hiccup runs inside to help Heather as sees she was knocked unconscious from the blast and starts moving her onto Toothless and fly back to the dome to check on her.

-

Hiccup lays Heather down and starts checking her for any serious wounds. Toothless starts growling worried about the other dragons out there.

"I know, bud. But we'll have to find Windshear later. I'm sure she'll be back. I'm just worried about Heather." Hiccup tells Toothless as Heather starts to move.

"Hiccup?" Heather calla out for him.

"Oh, thank Thor. You're okay. I'm right here." He assures her.

"Where? I can't see you." Heather says as she states to sit up and looks around. "And why is it so dark in here?"

"Heather, it's...not dark in here." Hiccup informs her not understanding what she's talking about.

"What do you mean it's not? It's pitch black." Heather states trying to see anything.

"Oh no." Hiccup says as he realizes she's been blinded.

"Hiccup, what happened?" Heather asks him looking in the wrong direction.

"We were on our way out of the stables when you must've been in the way of a lightning flash." Hiccup informs her.

"I'm sure it's only temporary. On Berk, Snotlout used to get hit by lightning all the time and he always recovered. Even Bucket lost his site and got it back...and he also now wears a metal bucket on his head forever." Hiccup says forgetting where he was going with this. "Well, all I'm saying is...okay, I don't know what I'm saying."

"Look, Hiccup, I can see what you're trying to do. And I appreciate it." Heather says and Hiccup helps her stand while holding her hand.

"Look, I know what to do, I've helped Snotlout dozens of times, we just have to wait for this storm to pass." Hiccup tells her. "In the meantime, you just need to rest."

"No, we have to find Windshear and the Night Terrors. They're all out there alone. They need our help." Heather states.

"Don't worry about them right now. We can't help them if you're don't help yourself. Just rest." Hiccup says and helps her lay back down.

They stay silent for a minute and Heather gets worried. "Hiccup, are you still there?" She asks.

"Yes. I'm here, Heather." Hiccup assures her.

"Will you and Toothless stay with me for a while? Just until I fall asleep?" She wonders not liking to feel vulnerable.

"Of course. We're not going anywhere." Hiccup says and holds her hand while Toothless lies next to them. "Are we, bud?" He asks Toothless as he coos in response.

-

They wake up later and the storm has finally passed them and Hiccup tries remembering what Gothi did to bring back site and needs some things from the woods to finish it.

"Hiccup, we can't worry about me right now. We need to find the dragons. They're still out there and obviously scared or Windshear would've already came back by now." Heather says.

"Yeah, you've got a point. I need to start getting out there and round them before the next storm hits us. We'll find Windshear, don't worry about that."

"And you're gonna leave me here? I don't think so. I'm going with you." Heather informs him, not wanting to stay by herself.

"Heather, I can't do that. You could get hurt out there, or accidentally wander off without knowing it." Hiccup defends.

"And what's the alternative? You leave me here on the Edge where we built multiple levels of floors where I could easily fall off the literal edge looking for the bathroom or something?" Heather asks and Hiccup sees her point. "It's not called the edge for nothing." She informs him.

"There's no way you're flying in your condition. All right?" Hiccup states to her, getting strict with her. "I am sorry, for the first time in my life, I'm putting my foot down." Hiccup states as Heather walking towards Toothless and she somehow doesn't fall and climbs onto his saddle.

"You said I couldn't fly. Not that I couldn't join you." Heather says and Toothless chuckles at Hiccup as he sees that she's right.

"No laughing, Toothless." Hiccup states and sees there's no way out of it without her. So he just decides to climb on Toothless and fly off to find the other dragons.

-

They keep flying searching for the dragons above the dark cloudy sky looking for their dragons.

"Remind me to never put my foot down again." Hiccup says to Toothless and the dragon mumbles in agreement.

"I can still hear you, Hiccup. But I agree." Heather states as they start descending and Heather starts slipping, and Hiccup quickly grabs her.

"Okay, you're gonna have to hold on tighter." Hiccup says to her.

"Sorry, Hiccup." Heather says back to him and does as he says.

"There's no need for apologies. Truth is, I'm kinda happy you're with me. So I know you're safe." Hiccup states and Heather wraps her arms around him to not fall off of Toothless and smiles at Hiccup and he smiles back at her.

-

"Windshear?! Windshear, come here, girl! It's just us, Windshear!" Heather keeps shouting as they start looking on foot and she keeps shouting for her dragon.

"Okay, I'm thinking that, as jittery as the dragons were, they probably wanted to get as far away from the storm as possible." Hiccup states to her as she keeps looking around. "So, if we were to take this stream down forwards the beach-"

"No. I know my dragon, Hiccup. In the year I've known Windshear, she's always been more worried about me more than herself. Which means she's trying to figure her way back towards the Edge. Which means she will be heading upstream." Heather informs Hiccup and tries to keep walking when she trips on a stone and starts falling.

"Heather!" Hiccup shouts and tries grabbing her but she pulls him down to the ground with her and ends up on top of her accidentally, and Hiccup is extremely glad she doesn't see how blushed he is at this.

"Um, are...you okay?" He asks her as she stares blankly.

"Uh, I'm...I'm fine. Thank you." She says and they stay like that for a few seconds until Heather broke the silence. "We should probably get going?" She asks him.

"Yeah. That's exactly what I was gonna...get going." Hiccup says, still blushing and gets off of her and helps her stand up.

Heather starts hearing growling a short distance from them. "Hiccup, do you hear that?" She asks him.

"Hear what?" Hiccup asks hearing nothing.

"Something's coming towards us." She states when Toothless starts hearing it himself and starts screeching. Heather starts moving towards his calls and hoping she doesn't run into anything.

"Heather, what are you doing?" Hiccup asks her.

"It's okay. It's Windshear." Heather says and Hiccup looks up to see, exactly as she said, Windshear coming out of the rocks and flies down towards them and Heather hugs her neck.

"There's my fighter! Oh, I knew you'd find me." She says happily when Windshear starts acting strange and she hears clicking above them.

"Hiccup! Above you!" Heather shouts and Hiccup turns to see the Triple Stryker flying at them.

Hiccup quickly moves Heather out of its path and Toothless and Windshear start defending them.

"Heather, there's a rock formation ten paces to your right!" Hiccup shouts to Heather as she stands up in the middle of their fight.

"You think I'm gonna hide?" Heather questions him knowing he knows her better than that. "Windshear!" She starts shouting and tries finding her dragon.

"Of course she's not gonna hide. What was I thinking? You've known this girl for over a year, when has she ever hidden when she should?" Hiccup asks himself as he quickly climbs Toothless and catches up with her.

Windshear moves out of Heather's path and stops her from climbing on.

"Windshear?" Heather asks her dragon and Windshear moves her out of the fight as the Triple Stryker flies in and starts fighting Windshear again, but Windshear's aurmor coated skin keeps her safe from his attacks. But not Heather as Hiccup flies in and Toothless picks her up and gets her a safe distance from the fight.

"You, stay, Heather." Hiccup commands her and she growls in response as he flies to help Windshear.

"This is not fair, Hiccup." Heather states to him. "Are you even there?" She asks.

"We'll discuss it later." Hiccup states when the Triple Stryker comes and hits them to the ground.

"Come on, Hiccup. It's gonna take the two of us to stop him. Windshear?" Heather calls her dragon and it still isn't listening.

"She's with me. We need her help if were gonna fight him. And I can't fight this guy if all I'm gonna be doing is worrying about you." Hiccup says bluntly, not realizing he admitted that he cares about her too much to let her get hurt anymore than she already has.

Heather gets even more mad but sees he's truly concerned and gives in. "Okay, I'll hide. Exactly what a trained Dragon Rider should be doing in a time where her only friend is in danger." She states to Hiccup and he starts feeling bad about doing this but knows it's for the best.

Hiccup, Toothless and Windshear take off to fight the Triple Stryker as it goes closer towards Heather.

"Windshear, spike shot!" Hiccup tells Windshear and she shoots spike behind it and Toothless shoots in front of it and it runs off. Heather just waits for Hiccup to return as he gets off of Toothless and moves up to her.

"Okay, let's mount up and get back to the Edge before that guy comes back." Hiccup tells her and Heather gets up and walks up depressed to Toothless and mounts him and waits for Hiccup.

"Uh, Heather, that's Toothless, Windshear's behind him." Hiccup informs her Don't you want to ride Windshear?" He asks, completely confused to why she's acting this way.

"I think she's made it clear she doesn't want me riding her while I'm like this." Heather states in regards to how Windshear was acting in the fight, not letting her help.

"Heather, Windshear was protecting you. She didn't want you in the middle of the fight. It was pretty incredible when you think about it from her point of view." Hiccup states never seeing that type of behavior in dragons before except Toothless.

"I'm having a hard time finding anything incredible in all of this." Heather says and she starts wandering off until Hiccup walks up to her and stops her.

"Look, obviously, I can't imagine what this must be like for you. You're...well, you're Heather. You're an outcast, in all the best ways. And smart, amazing." Hiccup states naming some of the many things he loves about her.

"Not anymore. What if this is it, Hiccup? What if I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life? What then?" She asks him turning to face him the best she can with tears flowing in her eyes. Hiccup just tries to be honest as possible.

"Then we'll deal with it together. Just because you can't see, doesn't mean you're useless." Hiccup informs her looking into her eyes even when she can't see him, he doesn't care. He could get lost in her eyes.

"But that's exactly how I feel." Heather tells him.

"Heather, you and I have been through everything together. Building Dragons Edge, last year with helping me defeat the Red Death. You even saved my life." Hiccup states as his hand starts holding hers and Toothless starts watching, interested in their interaction. "You think I can't handle something like this?" He asks slowly leaning in.

"You have me, no matter what. Okay, whatever that means, whatever you want it to mean. I will always be there for you. Without you, I would possibly be dead at this point. If not from the leg, probably the Deathsong, or any of the millions of other ways I could've been killed at this point. You've been there for me, and I'll always be there for you." He says as he starts closing in on her when she hears something.

"Do you hear that?" Heather asks and Hiccup backs away from her and Toothless looks annoyed and even rolls his eyes in annoyance of them.

"What? I didn't hear anything." Hiccup states at not hearing what she's hearing.

"Thee it is again. Behind you." Heather states and Hiccup turns to see the Triple Stryker coming back from around the rock formation. Hiccup moves Heather once again as their dragons defend their riders.

"Okay, you were right. He's untrainable. He's gotta go for good." Hiccup states to Heather. "Toothless, distress call!" Hiccup tells Toothless and he knows what to do.

Last year, Hiccup taught the other dragons to answer the distress call Toothless emits. They just never had the opportunity to see if it worked.

Hoping it works, Toothless sends a blast into the air and explodes around the island and they all start to fly towards the distress signal. As they make their way, Windshear and Toothless do their best to fight off the Stryker.

Heather stays back and continues to hear the constant clicking as a Monstrous Nightmare and a Hideous Zippleback, and a Deadly Nader come in to help them as Heather concentrated on the clicks.

"It makes that same sound before every attack." Heather tells herself.

"Okay, gang, we need to surround it. It can't hit all of us all at once!" Hiccup tells the dragons and they start attacking it from all angles and it keeps making the sound.

Heather finally gets an idea. "Windshear! Come now!" She calls her dragon and she leaves the fight and the Triple Stryker gets rid of the other dragons, leaving only Toothless and Hiccup to stop it.

"Okay, let's get rid of this guy!" Hiccup states to Toothless when he notices Windshear and Heather flying at them.

"Windshear, spike shot!" Heather shouts and Windshear shoots spikes in front of the Triple Stryker.

"What? Heather, what are you doing?" Hiccup asks, not seeing what she's doing.

"I've got this, Hiccup. I've been hearing you and the others get your butts kicked and I'm kinda getting sick of it. Besides, I think I understand how this dragon works." Heather states as she flies around and listens for the clicking.

Once she hears it, "again, Windshear!" Windshear shoots more spikes and corners the Stryker and lands.

The Stryker starts getting more aggressive as Heather walks closer to it.

"Heather, careful!" Hiccup states to her.

"Trust me, Hiccup. I'm dealing with it." She states as she grabs two of Windshear's tail spikes and moves closer and hears the Stryker's clicking and mimicked it with the spikes. The Stryker seems to react to it as he searches for where it came from.

"That's it." Heather says knowing it's working. Stryker starts getting ready to attack and makes the clicking sounds and Heather mimick it again.

"You're using the clicks to distract it." Hiccup realizes and seeing her plan as she gets closer to the dragon and holds her hand out towards it and starts searching for it. The Stryker helps her and places his snout against her hand and Heather smiles.

"And that's how we get close enough to train it." Hiccup states.

"Looks like you were right. We just needed to show we're friends and we're the same." Heather says happy to see, even like this, she was able to help.

-

They go back to the Edge and Hiccup puts together what he remembers from Gothi to help Heather and places a cloth against her eyes and waits a while until removing it.

Heather starts blinking and starts noticing she can actually see something and sees Hiccup looking at her worryingly.

"Heather, are you-"

"Looking at you?" Heather asks, interrupting him. "It would seem like it." She says smiling while Hiccup is relieved.

"It would seem there were a few good things I learned from Berk." Hiccup states as Heather hugs him and is happy to see her friend again.

They're in the arena training the Triple Stryker with a device that rattles like what Heather was doing with the spikes.

"Imagine what we can do with this guy once he's properly trained." Heather states to Hiccup.

"Yeah, he could help defend from invaders, even help move sone heavy things around." Hiccup says to her.

-

Later on, Toothless and Windshear are playing around on the landing platform while Heather and Hiccup are staring out into the sunset. Heather relishes in the ability to see a sunset after the day she's been through and is happy Hiccup was able to help her.

"You sure there's nothing wrong?" Hiccup asks her.

"I'm fine, Hiccup. You did a good job in keeping me safe and giving me my site back. You can stop worrying." Heather states to him and finds it sweet how much he cares.

"Oh, I never stop worrying about you. You're my only friend in all of this madness. And I wouldn't have it any other way." Hiccup says, smiling at her.

"Yeah, I guess that goes for me, too." She says and rests her head on his shoulder. "Can I ask you something random?" She asks.

"Go ahead." Hiccup tells her.

"Back in the forest, when we were...you know. Were you about to..." she asks and Hiccup realizes what she's talking about.

"Oh, you felt that, huh?" Hiccup asks as his blushing comes rising back.

"Well, why didn't you?" Heather asks, kinda curious if he felt the same for her as she did for him.

"Well, I...I didn't think that it was perfect. And I thought...and yes, I've thought of it, it would be perfect." Hiccup states and Heather looks out into the distance of the sun setting.

"Well, is this perfect?" She asks facing him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is." Hiccup says as she pulls him in and kisses him. Toothless comes over and smiles at the two and Hiccup waves his hand to make his friend go away.

-

Meanwhile back on Berk, ever since the dragons stopped raiding, they stopped killing dragons since they weren't around as often until Astrid was able to show everyone exactly what she saw hiccup teach the strange girl she never saw before.

Now she tamed the Deadly Nadder and named her Stormfly while everyone else also has their own dragons now. But she never told anyone she learned this from Hiccup, just some random person who stole their Razerwhip, as nobody has seen or heard from him ever since he left.

Everyone has a different story to what happened to him, some say he ran away, some say he was killed by a dragon. Some believe he ran away and then was killed because he couldn't handle himself.

But Astrid knows he's alive out there. She doesn't know where he is, but he's most likely out there with that girl, and they're probably somewhere far away and might never come back to Berk.

After the way he was treated here his entire life, she wouldn't blame him.


	6. Welcome to Arendelle

It's now been two years since Hiccup had left Berk, and he hasn't given it a second thought after everything. He and Heather have been living and coexisting with the dragons of the island they now call Dragon's Edge.

It's that to both dragons and anyone in need of help. Most of their home is filled of sick or injured dragons, and even some for new hatchlings that they've help. Hiccup and Heather also have their own separate huts for them and their dragons.

In Heather's hut, it holds basic needs for anyone. It has a bedroom for herself, a sleeping place for Windshear, a kitchen, and everything anyone needs to live.

In Hiccup's, he has almost the same basic needs for him and Toothless, but he also has a smaller hut for his blacksmith things where he builds saddles, a few spare legs (because you never know) and he has also recently started his own take of the _Book of Dragon__s, _or as he now calls it _Ho__w to Train your Dragon_. For future generations to know that dragons aren't dangerous, they're just misunderstood.

After their first year at the Sanctuary and their mishap with the Triple Stryker, Hiccup and Heather have started traveling to other islands during the night and rescuing dragons that have been captured and set them free.

They also began a routine for how they run things at the Sanctuary. They make decisions together, not one other person has more power than the other. All decisions are decided on together to avoid arguments. Every other day, Hiccup would train the dragons that traveled to them after their nest was destroyed, so they could have an armada to protect their home and teach them tricks and maneuvers.

On those days, Heather would look over the island dragons for any new arrivals or injured dragons. Then on the other days, they'd swap and have 2 days off where they don't have to do anything and usually just spend alone time together either alone or with their dragons.

When it came to traveling, Hiccup wore a dark suit he fashioned from Toothless' scales that fell off him over the years and he caries his shield he fashioned from Gronckle iron that helps for fighting and defending. It's noticeable Night Fury on the shield quickly earned him the nickname throughout the archipelago as Night Rider. (**HTTYD2 look**)

As for Heather, she wears a outfit she made herself that covers all of her facial features, all except her eyes since she didn't want a helmet like Hiccup she wears a hood. She also has her double bladed ax Hiccup forged for her last year, made from Gronckle iron. She earned the nickname Shadow Rider across the archipelago. (**RTTE look**).

-

Today, Hiccup is patiently waiting for Johann who hopefully has information on where Dagur the deranged is. He hasn't told Heather yet, seeing that Johann has been wrong in the past. Johann found their island almost a year ago, and has made the Edge a routine stop for him.

As Hiccup was flying with Toothless, he spots Johann's ship approaching their docks and flies down to greet him. "Ah, Dragons Edge. My favorite island in all the lands." Johann says as Hiccup gets to his ship.

"Do you say that to all the islands you visit?" Hiccup wonders, since he says the same thing to them on Berk.

"Let's keep that a trading secret." Johann replies to him.

"Were you able to find anything on where Dagur is headed or is?" Hiccup asks the explorer.

"Well, I am still figuring where he is, but I actually have come bearing a message." Johann tells Hiccup and pulls a paper from his shirt.

"Who's it from?" Hiccup wonders as he takes the paper from him and Heather joins the two.

"Oh, there's a fascination tale there, master Hiccup." Johann tells him and they have a feeling they're going to hear some tale. "On my many journeys, I have found many islands, and have met many strange people. One being the island known as Arendell, a land full of enchantment. It's said that this is to be the first time they've open the gates in years. They asked me to bring this message to any island I were to visit, and I thought that you and miss Heather would like to see more islands, giving your need and love of traveling." He explains and as they expected, he continues on with some tale as Hiccup reads the letter.

"Seems to be a coronation. Passing the crown to the eldest princess. What do you think, Heather? Should we go?" Hiccup asks, since it's both of their decisions.

"I don't know, sounds like fun." Heather tells him, meaning that she agrees.

"How far is Arendell, Johann?" Hiccup asks the man.

"Oh, I'd say a two day journey north by boat." Johann tells Hiccup while pointing in the direction he came from.

"So it would probably be a few hours riding our dragons." Heather guesses and Hiccup was thinking the same.

"When's the coronation?" Hiccup asks while looking over the letter.

"It is supposed to take place in three days at noon. Might I suggest you take that time to get some proper attire." Johann tells the two of them and they look over their current clothes and get that it's not something they should be wearing to the event.

"Got any nice clothes on you we could trade for?" Heather asks Johann and it so happens that he has exactly what they need to blend in with the locals of the island.

-

On the day of the coronation, they pack up anything that they might need. A change of clothes, a spare peg leg for Hiccup and Heather packed her double blade for in case something happens. Once they arrive, they plan on leaving their dragons in the woods to not cause a riot.

The dragons also already know when to hide if they notice someone that's not their riders and will only show up if Hiccup or Heather calls for them.

They make it to the shore where they're welcomed for a change. "Welcome to Arendelle!" The men at the docks greet them and everyone else. "Watch your step. The gates will be opening soon." He informs them all as they make their way through the town.

"Why do I have to wear this?" They hear a child complaining to his mother.

"Because the Queen has come of age. It's coronation day!" His mother informs the child. "That's not my fault." He whines as the town starts decorating for the coronation.

They walk past a blond man and a reindeer at the food stand. "What do you want, Sven?" He asks the reindeer. "_Give me a snack._" He answers his own question for the reindeer.

"What's the magic word? _Please._" He says and the reindeer eats a carrot. "Uh-uh. Share." He states and takes a piece of the carrot.

Hiccup and Heather just keep walking. "That's gonna be you in about eight years." Heather tells Hiccup regarding the man talking to his animal, causing Hiccup to laugh at that since he does talk to Toothless a lot. But it's not like they have many people to talk to at the Edge.

"I can't wait to see the queen and princess." They hear locals talking as they keep exploring the place. "I bet they are beautiful." Someone agrees with him as everyone moves towards the gates.

-

Heather was looking through their small shops they kept near the docks as Hiccup was seeing if they when she hears someone singing, and turns to see someone wearing a black and green dress about to be hit by a horse. As she's gets hit by the horse, Heather was able to grab and save her.

"Ah, Thank you." The girl says to Heather as she pulls her back onto the docks and look to the man who hit her.

"I'm so sorry, are you hurt?" He asks and Heather watches the girl stutter trying to talk to him.

"No, I just wasn't looking where I was going. I'm great." She says.

He then gets off of his horse and walks to them. "Oh, thank goodness. Prince Hans of the Southern Isles." He greets the two women.

"Princess Anna of Arendell." She greets to them.

"Heather of the Edge." Heather introduces to them and they stand in silence before she starts looking for a way out. "Excuse me, I have to go find where my friend ran to." She apologizes when she hears the coronation bells ringing.

-

During the coronation, Hiccup and Heather noticed how Elsa seemed scared of something while her arms were shaking, and especially when they saw how quickly she put them back on.

That reminds them about what Johann told them about them having the gates closed for years and wonder why that is. After the coronation, they're all gathered in the ballroom for the celebration.

Heather and Hiccup started having a conversation with a Princess Rapunzel and Prince Eugene of Corona, when they had to leave suddenly.

"You think something strange is happening here?" Hiccup asks Heather.

"Well, it seems pretty normal. I wonder why they closed the gates." Heather states while looking around the room.

Hiccup looks to see the queen is wandering the room alone. "Maybe we should talk to the queen about it." Hiccup suggests and that's what they do.

While they're talking, Anna and Hans return together while looking for Elsa.

"Queen Elsa. May I present Prince Hans of the Southern Isles." Anna says dragging the man from this morning with her.

"Hello. And may I present prince Hiccup and princess Heather of Sanctuary." Elsa says referring to the two of which she was talking to.

"Hello again." Heather says to Anna.

"You two know each other?" Hiccup asks.

"I told you, I ran into her this morning at the docks." Heather explains to Hiccup and he understands now.

"What is it you came running to find me for, Anna?" Elsa asks her.

"Right, Sorry. We would like.." Anna starts when Hans took over.

"Your blessing..."

"Of our marriage." They both finish together.

"Marriage?" Elsa, Hiccup and Heather asked at the same time all confused.

"Yes!" Anna says excitedly.

"I'm sorry, I'm confused." Elsa says to the two.

"Oh, good, I thought I missed something." Hiccup says to Heather.

Anna and Hans start talking about wedding plans and inviting Hans' 12 brothers to live with them. Which surprised Hiccup and Heather to hear how many brothers he had, considering they're both only children.

Their ranting was stopped by Elsa when she told them they don't have her blessing and then she told the guards the party was over. And that meant closing the gates again.

Anna rushes to her sister and explains how she can't live like this anymore while stealing her sisters glove. Elsa then tells Anna that if she doesn't like living like this to leave before she starts leaving the room.

"What did I ever do to you?" Anna asks Elsa with tears. "Why do you shut me out? Why do you shut the world out?" She asks her sister.

Elsa just tries to keep herself under control as she hears her sister. "I said, enough!" Elsa says while swinging her hand and ice fills the room with icicles sticking out almost impaling people.

"Well, that might explain a few things." Hiccup says to Heather as she's looking at the ice in shock of seeing someone with powers before the queen ran out of the room in fear.

Anna and Hans chase after her, and Hiccup and Heather follow after them.

-

Outside, Elsa is trying to escape when she accidentally froze the fountain. "There She is! Stop her." The Duke Of Weaslton says about Elsa.

"Please, just stay away from me." Elsa begs before accidentally firing at the steps causing the duke and his guards to slip.

As the duke starts getting up and looks to Elsa. "Monster. Monster!" He states as the citizens get afraid and Elsa keeps running.

Heather and Hiccup try following, but Hiccup slipped when his peg leg hit the ice and he fell.

Heather came to a stop seeing him fall. "You okay?" Heather asks him while giving him a hand up.

"Yeah, I'm god." Hiccup assures her while getting back up. "Darn peg leg, it wasn't made for ice." He states to her when they see it's starting to snow.

"Snow?" Heather asks. "I thought it was summertime here."

"Maybe it's all the same. Like on Berk." Hiccup guesses when Anna and Hans return.

"Did you know?" Hans asks Anna.

"No." She tells him.

"It's snowing! The queen has cursed this land!" Duke conspiracy theorizes. "She must be stoped! You have to go after her!" He tells his guards.

"Wait, no!" Anna tells them.

"You! Is there sorcery in you, too?" Duke asks Anna.

"I'm completely ordinary. And my sister's not a monster." Anna states to him.

"She nearly killed me." Duke informs her.

"Please, you slipped on ice." Hiccup informs him since he's just exaggerating by this point.

"Her ice!" He states back to Hiccup.

"It was an accident. She was scared." Anna tells them. "She didn't mean it, she didn't mean any of this. Tonight was my fault. I pushed her. So, I'm the one that needs to go after her."

Anna then calls for her horse while Heather and Hiccup look at each other.

"We both know she's not gonna make it up that mountain by herself, right?" Heather says since from what she could tell that morning was her first time being outside in a while.

"I was thinking the same." Hiccup agrees with her.

"I leave prince Hans in charge." Anna shouts as she gets oh her horse.

"Are you sure you can trust her?" Hans asks Anna. "I don't want you getting hurt." He says.

"She's my sister." Anna assured him. "She will never hurt me." She says before her and the horse leave the palace to find Elsa.

"We better find Toothless and Windshear." Hiccup says and they start to sneak away while everyone is looking away.

This trip just got more exciting than they expected.

-

Hiccup and Heather quickly made it to their dragons who are happily playing in the snow without a care in the world. Toothless was just playing with a snowflake as it falls to the ground and he keeps jumping in the snow.

"Nice to see someone is enjoying this cold weather." Heather says to the dragons who just noticed the two of them.

"Come on, we gotta find Anna before she gets herself stuck in this storm." Hiccup says and they quickly place their normal clothing on since they work in the snowy weather.

-

Said Anna is climbing the mountain on her horse with several inches of snow in her way. "Elsa, it's me, Anna, your sister who didn't mean to make you freeze the summer. I'm sorry, it's all my fault." Anna says hoping to find her sister out here somewhere.

"Of course, none of it would have happened if she just told me her secret." Anna says to herself and laughs. "She's a stinker." She states when a branch breaks off of the trees and scares her horse causing Anna to fall off and the horse runs off back towards Arendelle.

"No, no, no. Come back." Anna says but the horse doesn't listen and continues galloping away.

"Okay..." Anna says and tries helping herself back up by grabbing a tree, but the tree shoots straight up and drops the snow on top of Anna.

While she tries unburying herself she hears two giant thumps in the snow happen and she hears someone laughing.

"Told you It was her." A male voice says and grabs her hand and helps her stand back up.

Once she gets helped back up, she notices the voices belong to Hiccup and Heather from the party.

"Oh, hey. How'd you guys get here?" Anna wonders since she last saw them at the palace.

"We have our own ride." Heather says and points to Windshear when Anna suddenly notices the dragons.

"Whoa! You ride...dragons?" Anna asks the two of them.

"Yeah, we call ourselves Dragon Riders. Not that many of us, it's actually just the two of us that we know of." Heather answers her.

"And we figured you were gonna need some help with finding your sister." Hiccup adds onto that.

"That would be helpful, thanks." Anna agrees

"Where are my manners? Toothless, Anna. Anna, Toothless." Hiccup introduces them.

"Why's he called Toothless?" Anna asks when Toothless shows his gummy smile. "Oh, that's why." She realizes.

"And this is Windshear." Heather introduces while Hiccup helps her onto Toothless and goes on himself.

"All right, lets go find your sister." Hiccup says as they all take off into the sky.

-

As they're flying, they can tell they're getting close since the temperature seems to be dropping the further they go.

"Since Elsa is the cause, I think we should keep heading in the direction that's the coldest." Hiccup suggests.

"Speaking of which, did you seriously not to know your sister had powers?" Heather asks as she flies closer towards Hiccup and Anna.

"No, but we haven't really been close ever since she shut me out since we were kids. One day she just shuttled me out and I never knew why." Anna explains.

"Well, maybe her powers were the reason why." Hiccup offers as an explanation.

"Well, knowing about her powers now it makes some sense. Just wonder why she never told me." Anna says.

They keep flying, but Hiccup starts noticing somethings wrong when he tries moving Toothless' tail so they can keep rising. He looks behind him and Anna to see that the metal tail fin has been frozen shut.

"Oh boy, this is a problem." Hiccup says and Heather sees the tail is frozen and Toothless is trying to fly it off but he starts plummeting instead.

"Hang on!" Heather says as she and Windshear dive down and caught Toothless' saddle before they hit the snow.

"Looks like we're walking the rest of the way, we can't all fit on Windshear and she can't just carry Toothless all the way." Heather says. "And I'm gonna feel guilty being the only one on a dragon."

"All right, looks like we're walking." Hiccup says as they all begin walking and the dragons follow behind them.

-

They've been walking for a few miles and it's been a few hours and Anna's dress keeps getting caught in the snow and Heather tries helping her as they make their way up the mountain. Let's just say their outfits only heals out for so long until they become uncomfortable, but since they both grew up in the Archipelago where it's mostly cold year round so it's easy for them.

"Snow. It had to be snow." Anna comments as they keep hiking through the snow. "She couldn't have had tropical magic that cover the fjords in white sand and warm-"

"Fire!" Heather interrupts Anna when she notices the smoke in the distance.

But before anyone could do anything else, Anna and Hiccup took a slip and fell down the hill into the river below.

"Darn peg leg." Hiccup comments as Heather slides down carefully and the dragons follow.

Windshear slid down like Heather but Toothless slid and got his face stuck underneath the snow and raises his head to leave a bunch of it still on his head.

"Come on, let's get you on Toothless for now." Heather says and Hiccup gets up to help Anna and places her on Toothless and start making their way towards where the fire is coming from.

They keep walking and come across a small shop in the mountains that looks no bigger than a normal home.

"Okay, we need to hide these two out here somewhere." Heather says regarding the dragons.

"Maybe those sheds?" Hiccup says as they see two sheds near the shop.

"Okay, I'll stay with them, give them some of the food we have packed while waiting for you guys." Heather says as she walks the dragons to the shed to get out of the cold for a while.

Hiccup helps Anna off Toothless before he followed Heather and they walk up the steps and Anna sees a sign and knocks the sign off of it.

"Wandering Oaken's trading post." Hiccup reads while removing his mask.

Another small sign was attached and Anna reads it. "Ooh, and sauna."

They then open the door and enter the establishment and take a look around what's here.

"Yoo-hoo." A voice calls out and they turn to see who they believe is Oaken. "Big summer blowout. Half off swimming suits, clogs, and a sun balm of my own invention, yah?" He tells them while holding up a bottle of sun balm.

"That's nice, but we were hoping for something for winter." Hiccup explains to him.

"Yeah, like winter boots and dresses?" Anna asks him.

"That would be in our winter department." Oaken says and looks towards the corner and they see there's only an axe and rope with one pair of boots and a dress.

"You get what you need, I'll have a talk with him." Hiccup tells Anna as she can barely walk as her dress froze up on the way here.

Hiccup walks over to the counter to talk to him. "Say, Oaken, you wouldn't happen to have seen anyone else pass through here, like the queen perhaps?" He asks Oaken.

"The only ones crazy enough to be out in this storm is you two, son." Oaken tells them as Anna walks up to them when the door opens and someone comes in drenched in snow.

"You two and the fellow." Oaken corrects himself. "Yoo-hoo, Big summer blowout." Oaken offers him as he did them as he approaches them.

"Carrots." He says to Anna.

"Huh?" She asks the man.

"Behind you." He tells Anna and she sees she's blocking the carrots.

"Oh, excuse me." She says as he places the carrots on the counter.

"Oh. A real howler in July, yes?" Oaken asks the man. "Wherever could it be coming from?"

"The north mountain." He tells them while he grabs the pickaxe and rope.

"That will be 40." Oaken says regarding the price.

"40? No, it should be 10." He says.

"Oh, that's no good." Oaken explains. "See, this is from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem."

"You wanna talk about a supply and demand problem? I sell ice for a living." The man informs them while looking out to his sled and they see it.

"Ooh. That's a rough business to be in right now." Anna says and gets stares form both the man and Hiccup that gets her to go quiet.

"Still 40, But u will throw in a visit to Oaken's sauna." He says and looks towards the sauna. "Yoo-hoo. Hi, family." He says to his family inside the sauna.

His family which seem to be a few brothers, sisters and father wave back at them from the inside so Hiccup and Anna just wave back.

"Tens all I've got, help me out." He tells Oaken.

"Okay. Ten will get you this and no more." Oaken tells him removing the pickaxe and rope and leaving the carrots.

"Just tell us one thing. What was happening on the north mountain? Did it seem magical?" Anna asked the man as he removes the scarf around his mouth.

"Yes." He tells them and they know that probably where Elsa is most likely to be. "Now back up, while I deal with this crook, here." He states when Oaken gets up and revels he's actually taller than all of them.

"What did you call me?" He asks upset to what he calls Oaken and carries him out and throws him into the snow.

"Bye, bye." He says before walking bald to the counter. "I'm sorry about this violence. I will add a quart of lutefisk, so we have good feelings." Oaken apologizes.

"Just the outfit and the boots, yeah?" He asks them when Hiccup and Anna seem to get the same idea. Since the dragons won't be able to be there for them the entire way, maybe they can hitch a ride.

-

In the second shed, Kristoff and Sven the reindeer are getting ready to go to sleep. "_Reindeers are better than people Sven, don't you think that's true?" _Kristoff asks his reindeer friend.

**"Yeah, people will beat you and curse you and cheat you. Every one of them's bad, except you.**" He says in a different voice for Sven.

_"_Aw. Thanks, buddy_." _Kristoff compliments himself and pets his friend._ "__But people smell better than reindeers. Sven, don't you think I'm right? _**That's once again true. For all, except you.** _You got me. Let's call it a night. Don't let the frostbite.__" _Kristoff says before starting to sleep when the doors open and the group enters.

"Nice duet." Anna comments on his song making him jump.

"It's just you guys. What do you want?" Kristoff asks them.

"We want you to take us up to the North Mountain." Heather answers him.

"I don't take people places." Kristoff says before lying back down.

"Let's rephrase that." Hiccup says and tossed the bag with the pickaxe and rope at him. "Take us up the north mountain." He says and Kristoff sees what's inside.

"Look, we know how to stop this winter." Anna tells him.

"We leave at dawn." Kristoff tells them before laying down again. "And you forgot the carrots for Sven." He says when Anna tosses the second bag of carrots st he face.

"Nice toss." Heather compliments her.

"We leave now. Right now." Anna says before leaving.

"You heard her." Hiccup says before leaving and Heather was right behind him.

"What a strange group." Kristoff comments on them all and takes a bite from a carrot and give the rest to Sven.

-

Later, they're in his sled going up the mountain. Kristoff is driving in the front with Anna next to him while Heather and Hiccup in the back.

"Hang on! We like to go fast." Kristoff warns them.

"We've been faster." Heather states.

"I like fast." Anna says while putting her feet on the front.

"Whoa! Get your feet down, this is frest lacquer. Seriously, were you raised in a barn?" Kristoff asks.

"No, I was raised in a castle." Anna tells him.

"So, tell me, what made the queen go all ice crazy?" Kristoff asks them.

"Oh, well...it was all my fault." Anna starts explaining. "I got engaged, but then she freaked out, because I'd only just met him, you know, that day." She says and Kristoff gets confused. "And she said she wouldn't bless the marriage."

"Hold up, you got engaged to someone you just met that day?" Kristoff asks her.

"Yeah. Anyway, I got mad, so she got mad, and then she tried walking away, so I grabbed her glove." Anna keeps explaining when Kristoff shifts to face her.

"Hang on. You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met that day?" Kristoff asks and looks back to the other two. "You guys hearing this?" He asks.

"Buddy, we were there." Hiccup informs him.

"Just pay attention." Anna tells Kristoff. "But the thing is, she wore the gloves all the time, so I thought maybe she has a thing about dirt." She keeps explaining.

"Didn't your parents ever warn you about strangers?" Kristoff asks her.

Anna just looks at him for a minute and moves closer to the edge away from Kristoff. "Yes, they did. But Hans is not a stranger." She informs him.

"Oh, yeah? What's his last name?" Kristoff asks her.

"Of the Southern Isles." Anna says confidently.

"I'm pretty sure that's where he's from." Heather tells Anna.

"What's his favorite food?" Kristoff keeps questioning her.

"Sandwiches." Anna says.

Hiccup and Heather just listen in on his questions and her responses and see she doesn't exactly know a lot about her supposed fiancé.

As they keep talking, Heather and Hiccup look out to the forest and see something in the darkness.

"It's true love." Anna tells Kristoff.

"Doesn't sound like true love." Kristoff informs her.

"You some sort of love expert?" Anna asks.

"No, but I have friends who are." Kristoff says.

"Guys, stop talking." Heather says as she draws out her double-axe.

"What's wrong?" Kristoff asks as he comes to a stop.

Hiccup and Heather focus on the darkness when glowing eyes become clear and they see wolves.

"Sven, go!" Heather comands the reindeer and he begins to run.

"What are they?" Anna asks.

"Wolves." Hiccup says as they all start coming up behind them. As they fight off the wolves, Kristoff and Anna keep arguing when Sven interrupts them with a cliff up ahead. And now they have a choice, Take their chances with the wolves, or take their chances with falling to their death.

They easily made up their mind and were preparing to jump.

"Get ready to jump, Sven." Anna says.

"You don't tell him what to do. I do." Kristoff informs her before picking up Anna and throwing her into Sven. "Jump, Sven!" He says and the reindeer leaps and just about makes it.

Hiccup, Heather and Kristoff are still in the sled and wait until they're close enough to try to jump. As they're midway in the air, something comes along and grabs the three of them.

They're all confused to what's happening when they look up and see the shiny armored dragon being Windshear.

"Nice save, girl." Heather tells her dragon as Windshear scares off the wolves and drops them on the other side of the cliff.

Kristoff gets over the shock of being rescued by a dragon and sees his sled goes up in flames.

"Okay, girl, we're gonna need you to go back a keep an eye on Toothless for us." Heather tells her dragon while scratching her chin. "Well come for you guys when we come back." She promises and Windshear flies off to do just that.

"I'll replace your sled, and everything in it." Anna promises Kristoff. "And we understand if you don't want to help anymore." She says as they start walking away.

Sven snorts trying to talk to Kristoff. "Of course I don't want to help them anymore." Kristoff states to him. "In fact, this whole thing has ruined me for helping anyone ever again." He informs Sven.

"**They'll die on her own.**" Kristoff says in a Sven voice.

"She's got those two with them, and they seem prepared for a fight, let alone have access to dragons. Besides, if they do, I can live with it." Kristoff states still talking to himself.

"**But you won't get your new sled if they die.**" Kristoff states and looks at sven mad.

"Sometimes, I really don't like you." Kristoff states and Sven gets happy that they're helping them. "Hold up! We're coming." He tells them.

"You are?" Anna asks.

"All right, we'll let you tag along." Heather says and Kristoff catches up to them.

-

They keep making their way up the mountain when Anna looks back and notices that Arendelle is completely frozen over.

"It will be fine. Elsa will thaw it." Anna says optimistically.

"Will she?" Kristoff wonders.

"Yeah. Now, come on." She says pointing to her left. "This way to the North Mountain?" She asks when Kristoff readjusted her finger to point upward.

"More like the way." He infiems her and they see they've still got a long way to travel.

They keep walking through the woods and come across a frozen waterfall and frozen water droplets on tree vines.

"I never knew winter found be so beautiful." Anna says reminding most of them she grew up inside the castle.

"Yeah. It really is beautiful, isn't it?" A new voice asks and Heather draws her double bladeaxe and Hiccup draws his shield again ready to fight just in case. "But it's so white. You know how about a little bit of color?" The voice asks as they make their way towards it.

"I'm thinking maybe some crimson, chartreuse. How about yellow?" The voice asks and they didn't realize the figure was coming up behind them, and said figure was a living snowman.

"No, not yellow. Yellow and snow? No go." He says while chuckling and walks in between all of them and that's when they notice him and are confused where he came from.

"Am I right?" The snowman asks them and Anna screams before kicking his head into Kristoff's arms.

"Hi." He greets Kristoff.

"You're creepy." Kristoff says before tossing the head back to Anna.

"I don't want it." Anna says before passing it to Heather who catches it.

"All right, I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot." The snowman says and Heather isn't freaking out at him.

"Gotta admit, this is something I never saw coming." Hiccup states and reattaches his head to his body.

"Thank you." The snowman says to Heather. "Now I'm perfect." He states.

"Well, almost." Anna says before digging into the bag of carrots and gives the snowman a nose and pushes it trough his head.

"Oh, too hard! I'm sorry!" Anna apologizes to the snowman.

"Head rush." The snowman states to how he feels right now.

"Are you okay?" Anna asks him, not wanting to have hurt him.

"Are you kidding me? I am wonderful!" He tells Anna and starts messing with the small piece of the carrot before Anna pushes the rest out of the back of his head. "Oh, I love it even more." He states.

"All right, lets start over. Hi, I'm Olaf . And I like warm hugs." He tells them and it seems Anna had a flashback to something before snapping out of it. And you are?" Olaf asks them.

"Oh, I'm Anna." Anna introduced herself.

"I'm Heather."

"Hiccup." They all introduce themselves to him and he looks to Sven.

"And who's the funky looking donkey?" Olaf asks them.

"That's Sven." Anna explains.

"Oh, and who's the reindeer?" He asks and they realize he was talking about Kristoff, not Sven.

"..Sven." Anna says a little confused.

"Oh, okay. Makes things easier for me." Olaf says when Sven tries taking a bite out of his nose carrot. "Look at him trying to kiss my nose. I like you too."

"Olaf, did Elsa make you?" Anna asks him.

"Yeah, why?" Olaf asks her when Kristoff takes his arm.

"Do you know where she is?" Heather asks Olaf.

"Yeah, why?" Olaf asks.

"Can you can show us where she is?" Hiccup asks.

"Yeah, why?" Olaf asks.

"How does this work?" Kristoff asks when the arm slaps him.

"Stop it, sven." Olaf says taking his arm back. "Trying to focus here." He says and asks why again.

"I'll tell you why. We need Elsa to bring back summer." Kristoff tells him.

"Summer?" Olaf asks. "I don't know why, but I've always loved the idea of summer. And sun, and all things hot." He tells them.

"Really?" Heather asks since he's a snowman and shouldn't be warm.

"I'm guessing he don't have much experience with hear." Hiccup says to her.

"No I don't. But sometimes I like to close my eyes, and imagine what it would be like when summer does come." Olaf says while closing his eyes and entering his own world.

_"Bees'll buzz, kids'll blow dandelion fuzz. __And I'll be doing whatever snow does in summer. A drink in my hand, my snow up against the burning sand. Probably getting gorgeously tanned in summer." _Olaf starts singing and they worry his expectations aren't gonna match the reality.

"I'll finally see a summer breeze, blow away a winter storm. And find out what happens to solid water when it gets warm! And I can't wait to see, what my buddies all think of me. Just imagine how much cooler I'll be in summer." He keeps singing and starts dancing.

"Dah dah, da doo, uh bah bah bah bah bah boo."

"The hot and the cold are both so intense. Put 'em together it just makes sense! Raht da daht dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah doo."

"Winter's a good time to stay in and cuddle. But put me in summer and I'll be a...happy snowman! When life gets rough, I like to hold on to my dream. Of relaxing in the summer sun, just lettin' off steam. Oh the sky would be blue, and you guys will be there too." He says and sees the four of them are in his imagination with him.

"When I finally do what frozen things do in summer." He finishes singing and Kristoff scoffs.

"I'm gonna tell him." Kristoff tells them.

"Don't you dare!" Anna warns him.

_"In summer!" _He finally finishes singing. "So, come on! Elsa's this way." He says and starts leading the way. "Let's go bring back simmer!"

"We're coming!" Anna says and runs after him with Heather following close behind not wanting to loose them.

"Somebody's gotta tell him." Kristoff tells Hiccup and he sorta agrees. He's not one to crush someone else's dreams. That was usually his dads specialty.

"Let's just make sure we don't loose them and find Elsa for now, worry about him later." Hiccup says and he agrees to that.


	7. Frozen heart

Back at Arendelle, Hans is handing out anything he can find in the castle to help the citizens to deal with the cold keeping his promise to Anna to keep them safe.

"Cloak? Does anyone need a Cloak?" He asks them.

"Arendelle is indebted to you, your highness." One of the citizens tells him while he walks to the other citizens in need.

"The castle is open. There is soup and hot glogg in the Great Hall." Hans tells the rest of the citizens and passes the cloaks to a guard. "Pass these out." He says and he does as he asks.

"Prince Hans!" Duke calls out for him. "Are we expected to just sit here and freeze while you give away all of Arendell's traceable goods?" He asks Hans.

"Princess Anna has given her orders." Hans states.

"And that's another thing! As soon as the princess left, a pair of outsiders vanished in the same direction as her." Duke says referring to Hiccup and Heather. Of course they were spotted. "Has it dawned on you that your princess may be conspiring with these outsiders and wicked sorceress to destroy us all?" He questions Hans.

Hans gets angry at the man. "Do not question the princess. She left me in charge and I will not hesitate to protect Arendelle from treason." He promises Duke.

"Treason?" He stutters out when they hear a horse come in and it's Anna's.

"Whoa, boy. Easy." Hans yells trying to calm the horse down when everyone starts questioning where Anna is as they recognize the horse as her's.

Hans looks up where the direction he saw Elsa run off in and knows that's where Anna must've gone.

"Princess Anna is in trouble. I need volunteers to go with me to find her." Hans tells them and most of the guards volunteered easily.

"I volunteer two men, my lord!" Duke says referring to his men. "Be prepared for anything. And should you encounter the queen, you are to put an end to this winter. Do you understand?" He asks them and they understand completely.

-

Up the mountain, the group are making their way through a valley of icicles everywhere.

"So, how exactly are you planning to stop this weather?" Kristoff asks them.

"We were never told." Heather admits and looks to Anna.

"Oh, I am going to talk to my sister." Anna explains her entire plan.

"That's your plan?" Kristoff asks. "My ice business is riding on you talking to your sister?" He questions.

"Yep." Anna says and Kristoff looks in time before he could get stabbed by a icicle.

"So, none of you are afraid of her?" Kristoff asks moving away from the icicle.

"Why would I be?" Anna asks.

"We've dealt with worse." Hiccup states referring to the Red Death.

"Yeah. I bet Elsa's the nicest, gentlest, warmest person ever." Olaf says as he walks through an icicle. "Oh, look at that. I've been impaled." He realizes and chuckles.

-

They keep walking up the mountain and come up across a steep climb they won't be able to get up alone.

"It's too steep to climb." Kristoff says and looks to Heather. "You wouldn't happen to be able to call your dragon, would you?" He wonders.

"No, but we should work on that when we get back to the Edge." Hiccup says thinking that could come in handy for future events.

"Well, I've only got one rope and I'm guessing not all of us know how to climb mountains." Kristoff says and Heather and Hiccup don't exactly know how to through snow and ice, since they never had a reason to. Or the ability to try since the Edge doesn't seem to get snow, at least not like this.

"Says who?" Anna asks and they turn to see her trying to climb the mountain herself.

"What are you doing?" Kristoff questions her as she's failing to climb.

"I'm going to see my sister." Anna says as she struggles to get up.

"You're more likely to kill yourself." Hiccup informs her.

"I wouldn't put my foot there." Kristoff warns Anna as her foot slips.

"You're distracting me." Anna says.

"Or there." Heather also warns as her foot slips again.

"How do you know Elsa even wants to see you?" Kristoff asks her.

"Okay, I'm just blocking you out for now because I gotta concentrate, here." Anna says as she continues to slip.

"You know, most people who disappear want to be alone." Kristoff informs Anna and that statement hit too close to home for Hiccup as it brings up some bad memories of Berk in how he did exactly what Elsa did.

"Nobody wants to be alone." Anna says as she keeps failing to climb up the mountain. "Except maybe you." She states.

"I'm not alone, I have friends, remember?" Kristoff reminds her.

"You mean the love exerts?" Anna asks.

"Yes, the love experts." Kristoff confirms.

Anna is trying to climb and throws one leg over a small piece and is now stuck.

"Please tell me I'm almost there." Anna begs and they look to see she's only several feet off the ground. "Does the air seem a bit thin to you up here?" She wonders not knowing how far she really got.

"This could take a while." Heather says.

"Hey, guys." Olaf calls out to them and they see him in a small hole in the side of the mountain. "I'm not sure if this is gonna solve the problem, but I found a staircase that leads exactly where you want to go." He tells them and points to where he came from.

"Ha-ha! Thank goodness." Anna says relieved she doesn't need to keep climbing. "Catch!" She calls out before letting go of the mountain and into Kristoff's arms.

"Thanks. That was like a crazy trust exercise." She comments on her actions before following Olaf.

They all follow after them and come up across Elsa's castle made entirely out of ice and a staircase leading up to the doors.

"Now, that's ice." Kristoff says gazing at the castle. "I might cry."

"Go ahead, I won't judge." Anna says.

"Come on, let's keep going." Heather says as they continue walking.

Sven tries following them and gets stuck on the stairs.

"All right, Buddy, I got you." Kristoff says and helps Sven back onto the ground. "Okay, you stay right here, buddy." He says and starts heading up.

Hiccup and Heather start walking when Hiccup keeps sliding.

"Darn peg leg." Hiccup says again.

"All right, come on, we'll do this together." Heather says and grabs one of his hands and helps him climb up the staircase.

Anna makes it to the top and approaches the doors before stopping as Olaf is behind her. Hiccup is making it up while Heather is holding his other hand to keep his foot from touching the ice so he doesn't slip as Kristoff joins them.

"Knock." Olaf tells Anna as she's standing there. "Just knock."

"Why isn't she knocking?" Olaf wonders. "Do you think she knows how to knock?" He asks the others as Anna knocks and the doors start opening on their own.

"It opened. That's a first." Anna states remembering all the times Elsa never opened for her in the past. "Oh, you guys should probably wait out here." She tells them.

"Sure." Heather says knowing Hiccup won't be able to continue on like this.

"Especially you, Kristoff. Last time I introduced her to a guy, she froze everything." Anna explains to the man since she already knows Heather and Hiccup from their conversation at the coronation.

"But once on! It's a palace made of ice. Ice is my life!" Kristoff states.

"Bye, Sven." Olaf says and was about to enter the castle when Anna stops him.

"You too, Olaf. Just give us a minute." Anna asks and enters the castle. As she enters the castle, Olaf starts counting down.

The doors close as Anna looks around and sees the staircase and frozen fountain. She looks up to the ceiling and sees its snowflake shaped.

"Elsa?" Anna calls out for her sister. "It's me, Anna." She says before taking a slide on the ice.

"Anna." The voice of Elsa echoes trough and she looks up to see Elsa has changed her look, hair and dress.

"Whoa. Elsa, you look different. It's a good different." Anna admits seeing her sister. "And this place...it's amazing."

"Thank you." Elsa says happy at what she accomplished. "I never knew what I was capable of."

"I'm so sorry about what happened. If I'd have know..." Anna tried apologizing.

"No. No, it's okay. You don't have to apologize, but you should probably go." Elsa tells her.

"But I just got here." Anna states since she traveled all this way to see her.

"And you belong in Arendelle." Elsa tells her.

"So do you." Anna replies to her.

"No, Anna. I belong here. Alone. Where I can be who I am without hurting anybody." Elsa explains since she doesn't want to hurt her sister like she did all those years ago.

"Actually, about that.." Anna was about to explain when they hear the doors open and Olaf comes running in.

"Wait, what's that?" Elsa asks as Olaf enters.

"Hi! I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" Olaf shouts to her.

"Olaf?" Elsa asks surprised to see he's alive.

"You built me. Remember that?" Olaf asks.

"And you're alive?" Elsa questions not knowing she could bring snow to life like that.

"I think so." Olaf answers.

"He's just like the one we built as kids." Anna says and kneels down to Olaf. "We were once so close. We could be like that again." She tells Elsa.

Elsa would love to get close to Anna again, but then she remembers why she started shutting herself off from her when she hurt Anna.

"No. We can't." Elsa tells her and starts walking away. "Goodbye, Anna."

"Elsa, wait." Anna begs and follows after Elsa.

"No, I'm just trying to protect you." Elsa tells her.

"You don't have to protect me. I'm not afraid." Anna informs Elsa and climbs the stairs after her.

-

Outside, Hiccup and Heather were explaining where they came from and how they met to Kristoff who's wrapping his head around all the information.

"So, you come from a place where killing dragons is a privilege but you ran off with your friend dragon?" Kristoff summons up Hiccup's story.

"Basically." Hiccup confirms.

"And your home was attacked and you were able to escape, and met him and ran off together?" Kristoff asks Heather.

"There was a bit more in between, but I guess that summons up my past few years." Heather replies.

"And you lost your foot killing a queen dragon." Kristoff says referring to his peg leg.

"You've got it." Hiccup says.

"Hey, guys. What's that?" Heather asks looking up to a balcony and they see it looks like there's a snowstorm going on inside the castle.

Hiccup and Heather runs inside the castle and start running up the staircase when Hiccup once again slips down the steps.

"Keep going! See what's happening." Hiccup says to Heather and she keeps climbing.

Hiccup just gets back on his feet as Kristoff comes in and helps Hiccup climb the steps slower this time.

Heather makes it to where they saw the storm and balcony and sees the storm while Elsa and Anna are in the center when Elsa suddenly absorbs it while singing.

"_I can't!_" Elsa sings when the storm she absorbed gets blasted back off and hits Anna before continuing and strikes Heather. She then drops to her knees from the pain coming from her chest, not understanding what's wrong. But deep down, she knows somethings wrong with her. Something inside of her feels too cold.

Hiccup and Kristoff just make it with Olaf not too far behind and see Heather and Anna in pain.

"Heather!" Hiccup shoots and runs to her the best he can without falling.

"Anna!" Kristoff and Olaf go to check on her. "Are you Okay?" Kristoff asks Anna helping her stand.

"I'm okay." Anna promises.

"Hey, Heather, you good?" Hiccup asks as Heather stands back up.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry so much." Heather says as she regains her strength and joins the others.

"Who's this?" Elsa asks regarding Kristoff. "Wait, it doesn't matter. Just...you have to go." She tells them.

"No, I know we can figure this out together." Anna promises Elsa.

"How? What power do you have to stop this winter? To stop me?" Elsa questions as the ice in the castle begins to crack and give a red glow to it all.

"I think it's time to leave." Heather states believing they've officially overstayed their welcome.

"Yeah, I agree." Kristoff says.

"No, I'm not leaving without you, Elsa." Anna informs them all.

"Yes, you are." Elsa says and hits the ground to form a giant snowman.

"Oh boy." Hiccup comments on the size of the guy.

-

The big snowman grabbed all of them and brought them back to the doors and opens them.

"Stop! Put us down!" Anna tells the snowman.

"Go away." The snowman says and drops them down the steps where they see Sven has licked the stairway and his tongue is stuck.

"Heads up!" Olaf shouts as they stand up and he gets thrown into the snow covered rock and it's just his head. "Watch out for my butt!" He warns them as the rest of him comes crashing down with him.

"It is not nice to throw people!" Anna says and grabs a bunch of snow and makes a snowball.

"Whoa, Anna. Relax." Heather says and grabs her before she could throw it. "Just calm down and let the living snowman be." She asks of her.

"Okay, I'm okay." Anna says and calms down.

"Great." Kristoff says as they turn away and Anna throws it.

"Seriously?" Hiccup asks as it hits the snowman and he gets angry and spikes appear from his knees, back, and feet.

"Oh. Look, see? Now, you made him mad." Kristoff says.

"I'll distract him. You guys go." Olaf says and they all run off. That would also include his body as his head falls into the snow. "This just hit a whole lot harder." He admits.

The group keep running and slide down a steep part of the hill and the snowman leaps down and keeps chasing after them.

They run through a forest with him right behind them when Heather gets an idea and pulls out her axe and cuts a part of a tree and it springs up and smacks him in the face.

"That was great!" Kristoff tells her as they continue to run.

"You got him!" Anna cheers when they come up across a cliff side and they look down and can't see through a cloud layer.

"It's a 100ft drop." Anna guesses, looking down.

"I'd say more like 200." Hiccup corrects her.

Kristoff quickly ties a rope around all of them and digs his axe into the snow.

"What's that for?" Anna asks.

"I'm digging a snow anchor." Kristoff informs her.

"Okay. What if we fall?" Anna asks.

Heather takes a look below and looks at the ground in front of her and makes an assumption. "There's gotta be somewhat around 20 feet of fresh powder down there." She guesses.

"She's right, it'll be like landing on a pillow." Kristoff tells them when they hear the snowman approaching.

"Times up." Hiccup says as he throws a tree at them and Anna leaps off the cliff.

"That's not good." Heather says as they all get pulled down with her.

As they fall, Kristoff keeps his hand on the other end of the rope and stops them from falling.

"That happened." Kristoff states.

Back on the cliff, Olaf exits the woods with some snow on him that doesn't belong to him.

"I'm really out of shape." Olaf says as he fixes himself back to normal. "There we go."

As he's talking to himself, the big snowman starts coming out of the woods.

"Hey Anna! Hiccup! Heather! Sven!" Olaf calls out for them. "Where did you guys go? We totally lost Marshmallow back there." He states as said Marshmallow keeps approaching from behind.

"Hey! We were just talking about you." Olaf says smiling nervously. "All good things, all good things." He assures the Marshmallow as the group is trying to get down.

Marshmallow starts approaching them and Olaf tries stopping him, but he gets thrown off the cliff.

"Olaf!" Anna cries out as the snowman passes them.

"Hang in there guys!" Olaf says as he falls.

They keep going down when they're suddenly getting pulled up back to the Marshmallow and Kristoff hits his head and gets knocked out.

They get brought up to Marshmallow's face as he's completely angry now.

"Dot come back!" Marshmallow warns them all.

"We won't." Heather assures him and uses her ax again to cut their rope and they fall.

As they hit the ground, it's just as they said soft. "Hey, you were right. Just like a pillow." Anna says when she hears Olaf gasping.

"I can't feel my leg! I can't feel my leg!" Olaf screams when Hiccup comes out from under the snow.

"That's my leg." Hiccup informs Olaf as Kristoff walks over to them with the rest of Olaf.

"Oh, thank you for grabbing my butt, Sven." Olaf says to him as they place his head back on. "Ah, that's much better." He states when they see Sven has made it.

"Hey, Sven! He found us. Who's my cute little reindeer?" Olaf asks as he hugs Sven's face.

"Don't talk to him like that." Kristoff tells Olaf.

"Wait, where's Heather?" Hiccup asks as he stands back up and sees Heather near a frozen river. He walks over to her wondering what she's doing when she gets up and turns to face Hiccup and he sees part of her raven black hair has turned snow white.

"What happened up there?" Hiccup asks her.

"Oh, what am I going to do?" They hear Anna start worrying and starts pacing. "She threw me out. I can't go back to Arendelle with the weather like this. And then there's your ice business." She keeps going on.

"Hey, don't worry about my business." Kristoff says when her hair goes like heathers. "Worry about your hair!"

"What? I just fell off a cliff. You should see your hair." Anna replies to him.

"No, yours is turning white like mine." Heather says and they look to see hers is the same way.

"It must be because she struck you." Kristoff guesses.

"Does it look bad?" Anna asks them.

Kristoff thinks for a second and answer.

"No." Kristoff says to her.

"You hesitated." Olaf informs him.

"No, I didn't." Kristoff defends. "Okay, you guys need help, Okay? Come on." He says and starts leading them somewhere.

"Where are we going?" Hiccup asks.

"To see my friends." Kristoff tells them.

"The love experts?" Anna asks.

"Yeah, and don't worry. They'll be able to fix this." Kristoff assures them.

"How do you know that?" Heather wonders.

"Because I've seen them do it before." Kristoff explains remembering when he saw them remove the ice from Anna's head years ago.

"I like to consider myself a love expert." Olaf tells them as they're walking.

"Yeah, I wouldn't go that far." Heather states since he's been alive for about a day or so, and couldn't be a love expert. Surprised he knows what that word even means.


	8. Love will thaw

As they started making their way to Kristoff's love experts, they stopped by and grabbed Windshear and Toothless as his tail finally defrosted and he could fly normally again.

Hiccup, Olaf and Anna are flying on Toothless while Heather and Kristoff were riding Windshear with Sven on the dragons tail.

As they're flying, Heather is trying to stay warm as she feels herself getting colder.

"Heather, you sure you're okay to be flying?" Hiccup asks, not wanting her to fall off Windshear.

"I'll be okay, Hiccup." Heather promises and Hiccup moves closer to Windshear.

"Windshear, give us a little heat." Hiccup asks of the dragon and Windshear starts using her fire to warm her scales for Heather and she appreciates him doing that when Kristoff interrupts.

"Drop us down here." Kristoff asks of them and they land the dragons. "It's not much further from here." He promises and they start walking on foot.

"So, about my friends...well, I say friends, they're more like family." Kristoff explains. "Anyway, when I was a kid, it was just me and Sven. Until they, you know, kinda took us in. I don't want to scare anyone. They can be a little inappropriate and loud." He warns them and starts listing a bit more about his family.

"Kristoff, they sound wonderful." Anna states interrupting him as they reach a clearing with rocks everywhere.

"Okay, meet my family." Kristoff says gesturing to all the rocks. "Hey, guys." He greets the rocks and starts talking to them all.

"They're...rocks, right?" Heather asks as it seems even Toothless and Windshear are confused as Toothless is sniffing one of the rocks.

"Yeah, they're rocks." Hiccup confirms to her.

"He's crazy." Olaf whispers to them as Kristoff keeps talking to the rocks. "I'll distract him while you run." He tells them the plan and goes happily to the rocks.

"Hi, Sven's family! It's nice to meet you." Olaf says while petting the rocks. "Because I love you guys, I insist that you run." He whispers to them. "I understand you're love experts!" He goes back to happily speaking. "Why aren't you running?" Olaf asks seeing they're not leaving.

"Okay, you keep doing that. We're gonna start walking away." Heather says as Anna and Heather agree and begin walking away when all of the rocks start rolling towards Kristoff and Toothless follows them. To keep them safe, Windshear drops Hiccup and Heather onto her back away from the stampeding rocks

"Kristoff's home!" One of the trolls says and they all begin cheering.

"Kristoff's home!" Olaf also cheers when he realizes he's been calling him Sven this whole time. "Wait, Kristoff?" He asks the trolls.

"Let me look at you." One troll says and pulls Kristoff down to their level.

"Take off your clothes, I wash them." Another troll says.

"What? No, I'm going to keep my clothes on." Kristoff informs her. "Look, it's great to see you all, but where's grandpabbie?" He asks them.

"He's napping." One of the children trolls informs Kristoff.

"Okay, just so were clear, they're trolls, right?" Hiccup asks Heather since they've yet to notice them on Windshear's back.

"I thought I was just seeing things." Heather states just as confused.

"Trolls. They're trolls!" Anna just realized as all the trolls look her way.

"He's brought a girl!" One troll states and they move Anna towards Kristoff.

"What's going on?" Anna asks.

"I've learned to just roll with it." Kristoff tells her.

"Let me see. Bright eyes, working nose, strong teeth. Yes, yes. She.l do nicely for our Kristoff." One of the trolls asusres while looking over Anna.

"Wish, Wait, Wait. No." Anna starts interrupting.

"You've got the wrong idea." Kristoff states. "That's not why I brought them here." He says and they all just now noticed Hiccup and Heather on Windshear.

"Hi there." Hiccup greets them.

"What's the issue, dear?" The troll asks of Anna. "Why are you holding back from such a man?" She wonders.

"_Is it the clumpy way he walks?" _She asks while singing.

"What?" Kristoff questions.

_"Or grumpy way he talks?" _Another asks and starts singing.

"_Or the pear-shaped, square-shaped weirdness of his feet?_" Another comes in while holding Kristoff's foot.

"_And though we know he washes well-he always ends up sort of smelly_. _But you'll never meet a fellow who's as sensitive and sweet!_" Another group starts singing.

"That's nice, but..." Anna was trying to explain but they interrupt her with more singing and dragging Kristoff off.

"_So, he's a bit of a fixer-upper, so he's got a few flaws. Like his peculiar brain-dear, his thing with the reindeer. That's a little outside of nature's laws!_" The children start singing and keep playing with Sven, Olaf and Toothless.

"This isn't about me!" Kristoff tries explaining.

"_So__, he's a bit of a fixer-upper, but this we're certain of. You can fix this fixer-upper up with a little bit of love!_" The trolls say and push Kristoff back towards Anna.

"Can we please just stop talking about this? We've got a real, actual problem here!" Kristoff keeps trying to explain.

"I'll say!" The female troll states. "So tell me, dear. _Is it the way that he runs scared?"_

_"Or that he's socially impaired?_" Another asks as a child troll comes up and Kristoff catches him.

"_Or that he only likes to tinkle in the woods_?" The child troll asks.

"That was something I didn't need to know." Heather comments while chuckling.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Hiccup asks her.

"Give them a minute." Heather states, loving this.

"_Are you holding back your fondness due to his unmanly blondness?_" An elderly troll asks Anna and pushes Kristoff onto more trolls.

_"Or the way he covers up that he's the honest goods?_" They ask before rolling up into a shape of a heart.

_"He's just a bit of a fixer-upper, he's got a couple of bugs._"

"No, I don't!" Kristoff defends while scratching his head.

"_His isolation is confirmation of his desperation for human hugs._" They keep singing while hugging him.

_"So he's a bit of a fixer-upper, but we know what to do_." They keep singing and rope up Kristoff and Anna. "_The way to fix up this fixer-upper is to fix him up with you!"_

_"_ENOUGH! She is engaged to someone else, okay?!" Kristoff informs them all and they pull into a group huddle.

_"So she's a bit of a fixer-upper._" One of them says while the crystals around his neck glows. "_That's__ a minor thing._" Another agrees.

"_Her quote 'engagement' is a flex arrangement._" Another says while his crystals also glow.

"_And by the way I don't see no ring!_" One of the children states regarding Anna.

"_So she's a bit of a fixer-upper, her brain's a bit betwixt!_ _Get the fiance out of the way and the whole thing will be fixed!_" The male trolls sing while huddling around Kristoff who's getting annoyed by his family.

With Anna, all the female trolls are doing the same to her just not huddling around her.

"_We're not saying you can change her, 'cause people don't really change. We're only saying that love's a force that's powerful and strange. People make bad choices if they're mad, or scared, or stressed_." She informs Anna and she starts rethinking some decisions she's made recently.

"But t_hrow a little love their way (throw a little love their way) and you'll bring out their best_. _True love brings out their best!_" They sing as they're dressing Anna up and the men finished with Kristoff.

_"Everyone's a bit of a fixer-upper, that's what it's all about! Father! Sister! Brother! We need each other to raise us up and round us out. Everyone's a bit of a fixer-upper, but when push comes to shove."_ They sing when Olaf's Head onto; of Toothless comes in between the two.

"_The only fixer-upper fixer that can fix up a fixer-upper is..._" Olaf sings and Toothless moves them out of the way.

_"True, true, true, true, true, true, love." _The trolls keep singing and dig a pit before tossing them into it.

"Time to interrupt now?" Hiccup asks Heather.

"Yeah, go-" Heather was starting but more pain comes in and the same happened to Anna.

"She's as cold as ice." Kristoff says and Hiccup can concur the same about Heather when an older troll comes rolling through all of them.

"There is strange Magic here." Grandpabbie states. "Come, bring her here to me." He tells Kristoff and he holds Anna's hand. "Your lives are in danger. There is ice in your heart put there by Elsa. If not removed, to solid ice will you freeze, forever." He informs them.

"What?" Heather and Anna asks at the same time.

"But you can remove it, right?" Kristoff asks granpabbie.

"I cannot." He regretfully replies to Kristoff. "I'm sorry, if it was their heads, that would be easy. But only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart." He explains to them.

"An act of true love?" Heather asks, confused. "Really?"

"A true love's kiss, perhaps?" One of the trolls offers and they all kiss their partner.

Heather looks at Hiccup as another wave of pain consumes her and her hair starts turning completely white.

"What do we have to loose?" Heather questions and pulls Hiccup into a kiss and her body suddenly starts warming back up and her hair turning back from white to raven black.

Hiccup looks over her and sees that it actually worked. "Our lives are complicated." Hiccup informs Heather.

"Yeah, no arguments there." Heather agrees and they look to Anna who's still freezing over.

"Anna, we have to get you back to Hans." Kristoff states and Anna agrees. "Pull is out, Sven." He asks of his reindeer and he does as Kristoff asked. "You guys coming?" He asks Heather and Hiccup.

"You know, maybe we'll try talking with Elsa before returning." Heather says and Hiccup agrees.

"Alright. Olaf, come on." Kristoff calls for the snowman.

"I'm coming!" Olaf says and runs onto Sven and they ride off to save Anna. "Lets go kiss Hans! Who is this Hans?" He questions since he never met Hans.

"Come on, I think we need to have a talk with Elsa." Heather says and they get on their dragons and take off into the sky.

-

Elsa herself is in her castle, pacing back and forward trying to control her powers. "Control it." She tells herself while looking down at her hands.

"Don't feel. Don't feel. Don't feel!" Elsa keeps saying as she looks around and sees the walls have become blood red and spikes start appearing and sees that she's loosing control.

Hiccup and Heather comes flying in through her balcony and see what's been happening.

"You think she wants to talk?" Hiccup asks Heather.

"I know what she's been feeling now. Feeling outcasted, no one to turn to. You helped me when I thought I was alone. I just need to do the same for her." Heather explains and gets off of Windshear.

"I'd join you, but I'd prefer not to keep slipping every few seconds." Hiccup says referring to the ice.

"Just hang tight." Says Heather before petting Windshear explaining to her to stay put.

Heather walks through the castle looking for Elsa and as she continues through the maze like halls, she starts to hear her talking to herself and finds her pacing.

"You know, ice and heels never really worked well together when you're walking." Heather jokes when Elsa just noticed her.

"How'd you get in here?" Elsa asks Heather while keeping her hands together.

"Me and Hiccup might've left out that we train dragons where we're from." Heather admits and Elsa is still as confused since she's never seen a dragon in Arendelle before.

"What are you doing back here?" Elsa questions her.

"Look, I get that you think you're dangerous. But Anna needs her sister." Heather tries explaining to her. "When you shot that showflake off of you, you sorta..froze our hearts. Literally speaking." She says and sees the look of horror on Elsa's face.

"Hey, no, it's okay." Heather assures her. "We were told that an act of true love will save us, so I'm okay. Anna on the other hand, she's on her way back to Arendelle for Hans."

"Why would she need me then?" Elsa asks her.

Heather takes a minute to figure what to say to her. "Before I met Hiccup, I lived with my family. Then a group called the Berserker tribe invaded, killed or imprisoned. I was able to escape, but I lost my family in the process. I had to run to survive, and I wish every day that I had time to fix my mistakes. You and Anna can still make up for lost time, sometimes all we need is someone who cares for us to understand what we need to do." She explains and Elsa starts to understand when they all hear Marshmallow in a fight.

In the other room, Hiccup and Toothless move to the balcony and they see Hans and everyone else attacking the snowman. "This doesn't look good." Hiccup tells Toothless who growls in agreement,

Downstairs, Elsa and Heather go to the doors to see what's happening when the Duke Of Weaslton's men spot Elsa and fo after her .

"Come on, follow me!" Heather asks of Elsa and she does.

"There She is!" One of them say as they spot the two of them running up the stairs and follows after them.

Heather runs into what she thought was the right room but doesn't see Windshear or Hiccup anywhere. "This castle is a serious maze." Heather mumbles to herself when they reach them and they're holding crossbows.

"We got her." One says as they start aiming at her.

Heather steps in front of Elsa knowing they're after her and takes out her ax. "You want her, you get through me first." Heather states as he shoots and a shield of ice suddenly appears and stops the arrow.

Heather looks and sees Elsa is just as surprised as she was when they keep trying to shoot them.

"Stay away!" Elsa warns and sends another wave of ice at them when a purple blast fires and hits them.

Elsa and Heather look at the doorway to see Hiccup and Toothless. "Hope were not too late." He says as Windshear uses her tail and wraps it around one of the men and throws him at his friend, knocking them both out.

"Thanks for that." Elsa tells the two of them.

"Come on, let's get you home before more of them come in." Heather says as Windshear comes down and Heather helps Elsa get onto the dragon.

As they take off, Hans comes in just in time to see them leave. "Return to Arendelle, fast." He tells them as they all turn back.

-

As for Kristoff's group, Olaf is sliding down the mountain as the others are riding Sven towards the castle.

"I'll meet you guys at the castle!" Olaf says as he starts drifting too far off course.

"Stay out of sight, Olaf." Kristoff tells him since a living snowman is strangest thing yet.

"I will!" Olaf promises as they split off and Olaf runs into a woman. "Hello!" He greets.

She just shrieks seeinga living snowman.

Back with Kristoff, he's going as fast as he can towards the castle when the guards notices them.

Sven stops and Kristoff carries Anna to the gates.

"Are you going to be okay?" Anna asks Kristoff.

"Don't worry about me." Kristoff says when the servants come and help Anna. "Make sure she's warm, and find prince Hans, immediately." He asks of them.

"We will, and thank you." He says and they bring Anna into the gates.

"Make sure she's safe." Kristoff asks as the doors shut on him and Sven whines as Kristoff walks away.

-

Inside the castle, Hans had beaten Elsa and the others back to the castle because Hiccup and Heather took the slow route to see if Kristoff and Anna didn't make it.

"I'm going back out to look for princess Anna." Hans informs the others,

"You cannot risk going out there again." Someone objects to his decision.

"If anything happens to her..." Hans was saying but was interrupted.

"If anything happens to the princess, you are all Arendelle has left." He tells Hans when the doors open and Anna is brought in.

"Prince Hans." Kai calls out for the prince.

"Anna!" Hans calls out seeing her and holds onto her and feels she's cold.

"Hans, you have to kiss me." Anna tells him and everyone leaves to give them some privacy.

"What happened out there?" Hans asks as he brings Anna to the couch near the fire.

"Elsa strike me with her powers." Anna explains to him.

"You said she'd never hurt you." Hans reminds her what she told him before she left.

"I was wrong." Anna tells him. "She froze my heart, and only an act of true love can save me." She explains.

"A true love's kiss." Hans realizes and smiles. "Oh, Anna. If only there was someone out there who loved you." He says before getting up and walking to the windows.

"What?" Anna asks, completely lost. "What are you doing?" She asks him.

"As thirteen in line in my own kingdom, I didn't stand a chance. I knew I would have to marry into the throne somewhere. As heir, Elsa was preferable, of course. But nobody was getting anywhere with her." Hans explains as he starts putting out the fire. "As for you, you were so desperate for love you were willing to marry me just like that. I figured after we married, I would have to stage a little accident for Elsa. But then she doomed herself, and you were dumb enough to go after her. All that's left now is to find Elsa and her helpers, kill them, and bring back summer." He states and Anna knows he's talking about Heather and Hiccup when asking about her helpers.

"You're no match for them." Anna promises him.

"No, you're no match for them." Hans corrects her. "I on the other hand, am the hero who is going to save Arendelle from destruction." He states and starts walking towards the doors.

"You won't get away with this." Anna states while trying to crawl to the doors.

"I already have." Hans tells her and locks the doors shut.

-

Kristoff and Sven were walking away from Arendelle when Sven starts whining again and runs in front of Kristoff.

"What is it, buddy?" Kristoff asks as Sven keeps snoring at him. "What's going in with you?" He asks the reindeer when all he does is snort angrily as a response.

"I don't understand you when you talk like that." Kristoff says and Sven uses his horns to pick up Kristoff. "Stop! Put me down!" He comands and Sven does.

"No, Sven. We're not going back. She's with her true love." Kristoff says before two shadows come over him and he looks to see Windshear and Toothless coming in to land with Heather, Hiccup and Elsa on their backs.

"Kristoff, good to see we caught up with you." Heather says to him.

"What are you guys doing?" Kristoff asks them.

"We were gonna ask you the same thing." Hiccup states as he gets off of Toothless. "Where's Anna?" He asks seeing she's not with them.

"We just dropped her off with Hans, she's safe." Kristoff promises them.

"Thank you." Elsa thanks The man who saved her sister when a gust of wind hits them and they look to see a snow storm forming around Arendelle.

"Elsa, this you?" Heather asks, even though she should already know the answer.

"No, this isn't me." Elsa says when they realize someone's stuck in the storm and isn't with them.

"Anna." They all say at once and all run on to their dragons or reindeer and they all start racing back to Arendelle.

-

Back at the castle, Anna is laying in the floor and watches as the ceiling starts freezing over and somebody is trying to get in.

But when the door opens, all that's visible is a carrot sticking into the key holder and Olaf comes in and sees Anna on the floor.

Olaf sees the fireplace and grabs as much wood as he could before lighting it.

Anna looks to see Olaf near the now lit fireplace and gets worried for him. "Olaf, get away from there." She warns the snowman.

"Woah. So this is heat. I love it." Olaf says while holding his hand out and it catches fire. "Ooh! But don't touch it." He warns himself and helps move Anna towards the fire.

"So, where's Hans? What happened to your kiss?" Olaf asks her.

"I was wrong about him." Anna informs Olaf. "It want true love."

"But we ran all the way here." Olaf tells her.

"Please, Olaf, you cant stay here. You'll melt." Anna begs the snowman.

"I'm not leaving until we find some other act of true love to save you." Olaf promises and drops down next to her on the floor. "Do you happen to have any ideas?" He asks Anna.

"I don't even know what Love is." Anna admits to Olaf.

"That's okay, I do." Olaf assures her. "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours. Like, you know, how Kristoff brought you back here to Hans and left you forever." He tells her and Anna just realizes something.

"Kristoff loves me?" Anna asks Olaf wondering how she missed it herself.

"Wow, you really don't know anything about love, do you?" Olaf asks as he starts melting.

"Olaf, you're melting." Anna informs him.

"Some people are worth melting for." Olaf replies happily when his entire face starts dropping and he holds it up. "Just maybe not right this second." He admits while holding his face when the wind blows the windows open.

"Don't worry, I got it." Olaf says and runs towards the windows. "We're gonna he through...oh, wait." He says as he's noticing something in the distance and breaks off an icicle from the wall and looks to see the gang heading towards them.

"It's Kristoff, Hiccup, Heather, Elsa and Sven with the dragons!" Olaf cheers seeing them all heading towards the town. "They're all heading this way." He tells Anna.

"They are?" Anna asks, happy to hear her sisters with them

"Wow! They're really moving fast." Olaf comments on their speed.

"Help me up, Olaf. Please." Anna asks him as he rushes over to him.

"No, no. You need to stay near the fire and keep warm." Olaf informs her.

"I need to get to them." Anna tells him.

"Why?" Olaf asks when realization finally struck the snowman. "Oh, I know why! There's your act of true love right there! Riding across the fjords like a valiant, pungent reindeer king!" He cheers and helps Anna stand up when the roof becomes full of ice and icicles coming out and they start running into the halls.

Once they make it to the halls, they also begin to fill up with ice and icicles. "We're trapped." Olaf says when Anna looks over to the mirror.

They then broke the window off so they can get out of the castle and slide down the soft snow and Olaf gets covered in snow.

"We made it!" Olaf says and they go back to running, looking for Kristoff. As they're walking, Olaf gets swept up in the storm.

-

The gang makes it to Arendelle and the dragons start having a hard time navigating through the storm.

"Heather, you there?" Hiccup calls out and sees that they've been separated already. "Okay, bud, just get us as far as you can." He asks of his dragon.

"I can't see through this storm." Elsa says trying to see anything that even resembles Arendelle.

"Don't worry, Toothless doesn't need to see." Hiccup says as Toothless uses echo location to see where he's going.

As for the others, Heather is trying to see through the storm and can't see anything except for Kristoff and Sven below her.

"You guys know where we're going?" Heather calls down hoping they can hear her.

"No, not really. Just trying to head straight!" Kristoff admits when Heather sees a ship about to crash into of them.

"Windshear, grab them, quick!" Heather asks her dragon and Windshear does exactly that and Kristoff sees they avoided falling into the ocean.

"Thanks, Heather." Kristoff says.

"Anytime." Heather says before putting them down and they start to faintly hear Anna.

While Hiccup and Elsa, Toothless is trying to find his way back into town when his tail inevitably freezes and they fall before being separated.

Elsa is looking around and sees a manly figure approaching she thought to be Hiccup but it's Hans.

"Elsa! You can't run from this!" Hans tells her.

Elsa tries to find a way to escape, but didn't know where to go. "I just want to make sure my sister's okay." Elsa asks of him.

"Your sister? She returned from the mountain, weak and cold. She said you froze her heart." Hans explains and Elsa is fearing the worse. "I tried to save her, but it was too late. Her skin was ice. Her hair turned white, your sister is dead. Because of you." He states to her.

Elsa can't believe what she did, we came all this way for her sister and now it's too late. She drops down to the ice and the storm clears up, revealing an unconscious Hiccup and Toothless.

Heather and Kristoff were still looking until spotted Anna across the forge. Kristoff ditches Sven and starts running towards her.

Anna looked to see Kristoff and Heather going towards them but then notices Hans drawling a sword over Elsa. Now she knows she has to help her sister, if it's the last thing she can do. She races over to her sister and as she freezes over, Hans tries killing Elsa but Anna stops him and sends him flying.

Elsa looks up to see Anna frozen. "Anna!" She screams seeing her sister dead and breaks down.

Heather and Kristoff approach them and Heather wakes up the unconscious Hiccup and he notices Anna.

"Oh, no." Hiccup mumbles seeing they were too late. Even Toothless and Windshear seemed sad by what happened.

After a minute, Anna suddenly starts defrosting and coming back to life. Everyone looked shocked to see her alive.

"Anna?" Elsa asks and pulls her sister into a hug who happily returned it. "You sacrificed yourself for me?" She asks her sister.

"I love you." Anna replies to Elsa.

"An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart." Olaf remembers what granpabbie told them.

"Love will thaw." Elsa repeats and looks at her hands before the snow starts lifting and they all end up on a boat as the ice leaves. All over the town, all the ice gets lifted and Elsa dissolved it.

"Strange world we live in." Heather comments on what just happened.

"Yeah, but it's still ours." Hiccup replies.

"Hands down, this is the best day of my life." Olaf interrupts them and starts melting. "And quite possibly, the last."

"Oh, Olaf. Hang on, little guy." Elsa says and gives him his own snow cloud.

Olaf is happy to still be alive when they look and Hans is getting back up.

Anna interrupts the rest of them before they had the chance to approach him and does it herself.

"Anna?" Hans asks seeing her alive. "But she froze your heart." He states.

"The only frozen heart around here is yours." Anna informs him and turns his back and Toothless takes it as an opportunity to shoot a light plasma blast and sends him over the edge into the ocean.

"Nice shot, Toothless." Hiccup tells his dragon before scratching his chin.

-

Afterwards , Hans was arrested and was sent home to his big brothers to deal with.

Elsa even made it clear to cut all ties with Weaseltown after the Duke tried to kill her and her friends.

"Are you ready?!" Elsa asks everyone in the court area as it seems everyone is enjoying her powers and she turns it all into an ice rink for them to use.

"I like the open gates." Anna tells Elsa as she makes her way to him.

"And were never closing them again." Elsa promises her sister.

But now the time has come, as much as Hiccup and Heather love it here in Arendelle, they need to get back to the Edge.

"I wish you guys could stay longer." Anna says as Heather is fixing Windshear's saddle after adding on a few things she thought were nice.

"Hey, if you ever want to visit us, just travel south, or ask Johann to deliver a message to get us to visit." Heather tells her and Anna quickly hugs her.

"It's nice to have a friend." Anna says and Heather feels the same way since she's only known Hiccup for the past two years. Having a friend like Anna is pretty nice.

"Just know you're always welcome back any time." Elsa says as she approaches them and scratches Windshear under the chin which she enjoys.

"Same goes for you guys and us." Hiccup says as he sees Olaf hugging Toothless' face as Toothless keeps trying to take a nibble out of the carrot.

"Hey, bud, here." Hiccup calls his dragon and passes Toothless some fish he just bought knowing Toothless is just hungry and he starts digging into the fish needing his strength for the journey home.

"Oh, I'm gonna miss you, Toothless." Olaf says as he walks off to explore summer.

"Come on, we better get going if we want to get home before nightfall." Heather tells Hiccup and mounts Windshear.

"Yeah, time for us to return home, bud." Hiccup tells Toothless and mounds his dragon and they both look back to their new friends. "Don't worry, we'll be in touch and be back." He assures them seeing they're sad to see them leave.

"One thing you should know about us; were hard to get rid of." Heather jokes as they take to the sky and make their way back to Dragons Edge.

-

The two of them make their way back home, happy to say they had a good time, if you eliminate the part where Heather and Anna almost froze forever.

"That was good thinking about what you told Elsa back then." Hiccup tells Heather.

"It was just what I tell myself every day. But if I didn't loose my family, I would've never met you. So I guess some good came out of that bad." Heather states and wouldn't change that for the world. "Gotta say, must be nice having a sibling. It's a good thing they have each other."

"I had a sister, once." Hiccup admits and Heather is surprised to hear that. "I don't like to talk about it that much. But when I was little, I had a twin sister who was died the same night that my mom did." He explains and Heather sees why he wouldn't what to talk about it that much.

"What was her name?" Heather asks him.

Hiccup thinks for a minute to trying to remember, he doesn't think of her a lot but wishes he got the chance to know her. "Hala." Hiccup answers, remembering and they continue flying home while having some fun along the way.


	9. Forest fire

It's been three years since Hiccup has left Berk, and a couple of months since the Arendell incident.

Today, Heather was inspecting the island and Hiccup is flying with a pack of dragons in the air to see if they remember what Heather taught them the previous day.

While she was doing that, Toothless and Hiccup are flying in front of the dragon group, leading then around the island.

"Okay, bud, let's see how they are." Hiccup says to Toothless. "V formation!" He shouts to the dragons and they all go into a V shape behind Toothless.

"Not bad, team." Hiccup congratulates seeing they're picking up fast.

"Diamond formation!" He calls out and they all move into a diamond shape without a hinge. "They're learning well, don't you think, bud?" Hiccup asks Toothless who snorts in agreement as they go through their routine.

-

Back on the island, Heather is doing her spot check on all of the Night Terrors after she had finished her check on most of the Nadders and Gronckle except the few with Hiccup.

"Okay there's Night Terror 542, 543. They're easier to spot during the day than at night, wouldn't you say, girl?" She asks her dragon as she continues her search.

"Easier to spot that they're a million of small dragons and easier to count. We just finish up these guys and then Nightmares and Terrible Terrors, and last being the Nadders and we can be done with it." Heather tells Windshear who's happy to hear that.

She takes Windshear in to land in an opening and sees a pack of Night Terrors. "Okay, there's a few of them down here." She states when a small golden dragon falls down onto her saddle.

"Hey there, little guy. You're new, aren't you?" She asks thedragon as part of her saddle gets put on fire and she freaks out and puts it out quickly. "I'm pretty sure they were called Fireworms. What are they doing here? They haven't shown up in the past few years we've been here." She asks herself.

"It could've just lost its way." She states and looks around when another Fireworm comes down and starts another fire. "Windshear!" She shouts and her dragon just blows out the fire as if it was nothing. "Okay, I'm sure I should tell Hiccup about this." She says and gets onto Windshear and take off.

-

Hiccup was just finishing up morning routines and went in to land when he saw Heather flying towards him. "Hey there, Heather. Something wrong?" Hiccup asks her when she comes close enough.

"There's something I think you need to see for yourself." She says to him and he decides to call the dragons back and gets to Toothless and takes off and follows her while she explains the situation.

"It just started with one Fireworm, and as we were flying around, we started to see even more of them." Heather explains as Hiccup looks to see small fires are starting from the little of Fireworms there are.

"Well, this can't be a migration, because if it was, the whole island would be on fire. But yet again, the _Book Of Dragons says _when they are migrating, they send out some scouts to go ahead of them to see if the route is safe. They might be changing route. And our island is just in their new path. Which means eventually an entire flock of Fireworms are on their way soon. And will burn everything to the ground." Hiccup says to her.

"How much time do you think we have to get prepared?" She asks him.

"From what I recall from Berk, a week maybe at best." Hiccup explains knowing they need to prepare.

"We put in too much time and effort for this place to just be burnt down. We have to save it." Heather says and Hiccup agrees.

"You're right. We better start fire proofing the Sanctuary. Find a place for the dragons to be high and dense enough for the flames won't reach them. And then build a fire break and make a clearing so the fire doesn't reach our home. And possibly start gathering water. We don't know how long they could be migrating here for." Hiccup says and they split up the jobs.

Hiccup works on the fire line, Heather says she found a few caves she could check out to see if they're big enough to fit most of the dragons and gathers some water for them and their dragons to last them at least a week.

-

Heather was just filling up anything she could from their huts with water when she notices a strange rock near the ledge. She finishes filling up the containers and looks at the rock. "Is this a claim stone?" She asks herself and sees writing on the rock.

"_I, Magyar Thors__ton, hereby claim this island in my name and the name of all my family present and future, forever and ever._" Heather reads what's on the stone. "That's a strange way to end a claim." Heather says to Windshear as her dragon peaks it's head to see what she's reading, even though she can't read.

Later Hiccup comes down to help her get water and sees her looking at a rock. "Hey, what you looking at?" Hiccup asks her while walking towards her.

"I'm not entirely sure. But apparently someone called Magyar Thorston actually claimed our island." She tells him and Hiccup reads it himself.

"Wait...Thorston? As in..." Hiccup thinks about the teens back on Berk and remembers the Thorston twins and fear strikes him. "Toothless, plasma blast." Hiccup tells his dragon and Toothless blasts the rock and it flies over the ledge and falls into the ocean.

"What was that about?" Heather asks, never seeing him act like that.

"Trust me, were better off forgetting what we just saw on that rock. The Magyar Thorston's current family members...let's say we wouldn't have lasted as long with them in charge. And even though it's impossible for them to find us, let's not take chances." Hiccup tells her and she remembers him talking about the teenagers on Berk and decides to leave it.

"Let's just get back to preparing for the Fireworms. They're starting to show up in bigger groups." Hiccup tells her and she turns to see smoke heading their way and they have too much to do to worry about the stone.

-

As the night sets in, Heather and Hiccup put on their suits since there fireproof, and they see all the Fireworms start migrating towards the island.. "Okay, I'll take my group and start gathering all of the Night Terrors." Heather says to Hiccup.

"Okay, me and my group will circle the Fireworms around the island and onto the dry island in the chain. That way all the dragons will be out of harms way and they can't burn anything. And if that doesn't work, I'll go back to the fire break." Hiccup says and they get to work and she flies off.

Hiccup and his group try to stop the Fireworms from approaching and they're all following the path they plotted. After trying several attempts of getting rid of them, nothing works and Hiccup decides to get back to the fire break.

"Keep it up guys. The fire can't get through if it's only dirt in it's way." Hiccup tells his team as the Nightmare is burning all the trees in the way while the dragons are all digging through the ground to make a barrier.

Toothless is using his plasma blasts to make holes for the barrier and Hiccup is trying to work but the smoke is making it very difficult. "I can barely see out here, bud. If this gets much worse, we're gonna have to bail out and find Heather and the Night Terrors at the cave." He tells Toothless when Windshear flies up to them and Hiccup sees Heather riding.

"You might need to find a new plan, dragon boy. I couldn't find the Night Terrors anywhere, I traveled as far as I could to find them. They're just gone." Heather states to him.

"Okay, it might be time to...oh no." Hiccup says as he sees something coming in the distance. Heather turns to look and sees a gigantic Fireworm heading their way.

"The Fireworm Queen. Okay, if she's here, the entire flock is gonna be here sooner or later. That means we have to bail. We might be able to make it to Arendelle before nightfall if we hurry." Hiccup says, seeing that as the only plan left is to come back after they leave and see what they can fix after the fire is gone.

"Wait, Hiccup, that's not the Fireworm Queen." Heather states and Hiccup gets a closer look and sees it's the Night Terrors in the shape of the queen.

"The Night Terrors. They're protecting their island by forming the Fireworm's Queen." Hiccup realizes and gets an idea.

"I'm sensing we're not abandoning the island and you have a plan." Heather states to him and he does.

"I'm gonna lead the Night Terrors out to the sea. Hope that the Fireworms will follow. You take my pack and use them to put out the fires." He tells her and leaps into the air towards the Terrors.

"We have to get their attention and turn them out to sea." Hiccup tells Toothless and they fly up to the Terrors. "Okay, gang, let's take a trip, shall we?" He asks the Terrors and Toothless shoots a blast that the main Terror sees and commands the others to follow Hiccup out and the Fireworms see them and fly off.

Hiccup then leads them to an island not far from theirs so there's no chance they'll come bark around, and it's made of rocks and there's nothing to be burnt around.

"Perfect place for these guys, don't you think?" Hiccup asks Toothless as they fly over the island and the Night Terrors all separate and the Fireworms stop following them and lands on the island.

"And that is something to write about. And Heather thought there was nothing else that could be written." Hiccup tells himself and flies back towards their home.

Heather and the group of dragons are putting out the last of the fires when Hiccup flies overhead.

"That Dragon Boy continues to surprise me, Windshear." Heather says and travels back to the Edge. Hiccup is in the main building waiting for her as she enters and sees him lost in his thoughts.

"So are you gonna tell me what you're thinking about, or am I supposed to pretend like it's nothing?" She asks him.

"It's just...it's just after thinking of the twins, I got like some flashbacks from my life on Berk, it's nothing." He tells her.

"Hey, if something's bothering the other, we have to be open to each other. That's Rule number two, remember? It's not a you problem. It's a _us_ problem. Besides, you always said you hated Berk." Heather reminds him

"Yeah, but it was once my home. I mean, the Edge is my home now with the dragons and you. It's just hard to let go sometimes."

"What happened there, lead you here to this place. To the Edge, the dragons, even to me." Heather replies.

"Yeah, you're right. Besides, what's the chances of them running into us out here? Oh, there's something else I need to talk to you about." He says as he starts looking through his notes.

"I've been talking to Trader Johann. And it seems that Dagger is trying to raise a armada. And I was even able to use his information to learn what he did with your villages things he stole. I have a few thieves locations on where they are." Hiccup admits to her.

"So, we're stealing from others now?" Heather asks him.

"No. We're taking back what was stolen from your village." Hiccup corrects her and she's okay with any version of it.

"Yet again, Dragon Boy, still surprising me." She says while smiling and kisses his cheek. "But maybe we should wait for the damage of the island to cool down and make sure all of the Fireworms are gone for good." Heather says and Hiccup sees that's the best plan.

But what they don't know is that the path is gonna lead them back to Berk.


	10. Unexpected Reunion

Hiccup is in his complete Night Rider suit riding Toothless, following the instructions from Johann and come across the ship with the stuff stolen from heathers village.

Speaking of Heather, she comes up next to them in her Shadow Rider suit and they fly past another ship and for a blimp second. Where Hiccup could've sworn he saw the Berk symbol on its sail but can't bother with it right now.

On the said boat Bucket and Mulch see the two dragons fly past them. "Well, that's strange. I don't recall seeing dragons quite like those before." Mulch says to Bucket as he pulls out his spyglass and spots the Razerwhip and turns to see the Night Fury and is in complete shock.

"What is it, Mulch? You have that look. I don't like it when you have that look!" Bucket states starting to freak out

They watch as the Night Fury and Razerwhip fly straight at the boat and the Vikings occupying the boat abandon as Windshear starts shooting spikes at the remaining men as Toothless shoots them off. Windshear aims at the mast and destroys it as it falls and they land on the boat.

Back with the Berkians, Bucket looks through the spyglass and sees the dragons and their Riders and is shocked at it.

"What did you see, Bucket?" Mulch asks him.

"Something I wish I hadn't, Mulch." Bucket states in fear and they start heading back towards Berk.

-

On Berk, things have changed since the dragons raiding ended three years ago. Astrid never told who that person was that night when she saw Hiccup, but she told the chief about seeing him train their Razerwhip and escape and tried training the other dragons they had.

Snotlout got the Monsterous Nightmare and named it Hookfang. The twins, Ruff and Tuff got the Zippleback since nobody else could handle it and named them Barf and Belch. Fishlegs has a Groncle and named her Meatlug.

Since Hiccup's disappearance, Berk hasn't been the same but they've lived past him. But Astrid has always wondered who that girl was that he gave the Razerwhip to. She hasn't given it much thought in recent years since everything changed for Berk after they made peace with the dragons. But today she didn't know why, but she knew something was going to happen.

Nothing new seemed to have been happening, Snotlout keeps on trying to hit on Astrid and failing every time. Fishlegs keeps on researching the dragons for any new discoveries. The twins on the other hand...they do what they do.

But Astrid found it strange when she was called to Stoick with the others waiting with Stoick looking angry.

"Which one of the usual suspects was out sinking boats on their dragon this morning? I have my suspicions." Stoick asks eyeing Tuff and Ruff.

"Sinking boats?" Astrid asks, confused as all of them haven't left the island at all today.

"Bucket and Mulch saw the whole thing. And don't try convincing me that there's anyone else in the archipelago who could pull something off as to training dragons." Stoick states to them. "Well? I'm waiting?" He asks eyeing everyone.

They all look around each other completely confused as what he's saying when Tuffnut gets off the ground and raises his hands.

"It was me, chief! I couldn't control myself. I had to do it." Tuffnut says crawling over to Stoick. "What's wrong with me? Why do I do things like this? Why doesn't anybody do anything to stop me?" He asks and starts to cry and falls to the floor. "Can't you all see that it's a desperate cry for help?!"

Ruffnut walks up to her twin confused. "What are you talking about? None of that happened." She states to him as Tuffnut stops crying and stands back up.

"I know. I just always wanted to confess to something." Tuffnut explains his actions. "I didn't overdo it, did I?" He asks her.

"It was a little hard to believe." Ruffnut states.

"Chief, none of us have left the island at all this morning. It couldn't have been any of us." Astrid explains.

"Well, if it wasn't one of you, we have a much more serious problem on our hands." Stoick states.

"A rogue Dragon Rider?" Snotlout asks.

"Could it be the Night and Shadow?" Fishlegs asks.

"If it is, that means they must've finally snapped." Snotlout mocks.

"Whoever it is, we need to find out who it is." Astrid states. "Get your dragons, let's see what we can find from the ship."

-

They fly off and find the ship still there but cleared of everything.

"Okay, set out and see what you can find." Astrid tells them as they land on the boat.

"Hey, I've been thinking. This rogue rider, do you think it could be Dagger?" Fishlegs ask Astrid.

"Well, it could possibly. We just need to wait and see." She says and start looking.

They search and find a hole left in the side of the boat.

"Those are some deep scorches. What dragon could've made a blast this strong?" Astrid asks Fishlegs.

"This one dragon is extremely powerful. And the other dragon has the stashing attach of a Speed Stinger and is strong as a Typhomerang." Fishlegs says, thinking of all the dragons.

"This ship has been stripped of everything valuable." Snotlout says as he searches several barrels.

"You guys, you find anything else?" Astrid asks and sees Ruff and Tuff fighting over something.

"Nothing over here, right, sis?" Tuffnut says with a hand behind his back.

"Nope, no-thing." Ruffnut agrees with Tuff.

"Zilch. Not a thing in front, behind, or to either side of us." Tuffnut says and Astrid sees a spike behind him.

"You know we can see that, right?" Snotlout states.

"Alright, But we get to keep it." Tuffnut says and shows the spike.

"A barb!" Fishlegs states seeing it.

"That looks like Stormfly's." Astrid states seeing it closer.

"It looks more like it came from a Razerwhip." Fishlegs says.

"Didn't Berk have one of those a few years back and it suddenly disappeared?" Snotlout asks them.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Astrid asks.

"What? Nobody thinks like you. That's unfair." Ruffnut states.

"I meant was if we find what these dragons are, we'll find the riders. We already know ones a Razerwhip, possibly. We just need to learn what the second rider was riding." Astrid explains and they all fly back to Berk to have a talk with Bucket and Mulch.

-

They go back to Berk and bring Bucket to the great hall so he could describe the dragon to them.

"Dark! Did I say it was dark? It was as dark as the darkness night!" Bucket states, again.

"I know, Bucket. We've gone over that twenty times." Fishlegs states.

"Well, it's got a medium sized tail." He states and Fishlegs starts drawling it again.

"Yes. Yes, that's right." Bucket states. "And two large dark wings like bats!" He states and sees the picture and runs away screaming.

"Okay, you've ever seen one like that?" Astrid asks seeing the picture.

"I've never seen one like this in the _Book of Dragons _or Bork's papers." Fishlegs states.

"But, there's one place we haven't looked yet." Astrid says and brings in the Dragon Eye they found on a abandoned ship while on their hunt for Dagger when he escaped prison. "So, since we don't know what type of dragon it is, we just use our dragons until we get a match on this dragon." She explains and they start looking through everything.

It takes them some time until Fishlegs combines the mystery class dragons and finds something.

"Oh my Thor..." Fishlegs says as he sees what type of dragon it is.

"It's a...Night Fury." Astrid says in amazement.

"Wait, you're saying Night or Shadow are flying with a Night Fury? How could we not know that?" Snotlout states in shock.

"Let's see what it says. _Dark skin to blend in with the night. Aggressive and the most dangerous and mysterious of all the dragons._" Fishlegs says translating it.

"Yeah, we all know that. We remember the Night Fury from when it use to terrorize all of Berk during the raids." Snotlout states. "Find something useful."

"I'm trying. It says how the Night Fury is the most powerful and dangerous of all of the dragons known." Fishlegs says, translating some more.

"Punch me, because I must be dreaming." Tuffnut states to Ruff and she does as he asks.

"Fishlegs, is there anything to help us stay alive against a Night Fury?" Astrid asks him. "Like weak points?"

"How about its eyes?" Ruffnut asks.

"Nope. States it's stare could drive even the most brave of Vikings to freeze in fear." Fishlegs says.

"Okay, it's official! I love it!" Tuffnut states happy like a kid on Snogletog.

"Anything about how to track its location?" Astrid asks, getting sick of the twins.

"_Top speed_. _Mating rituals.__ Oral hygiene_. Oh, maybe here. _Feeding habits._ Nope, it says mostly the same as other dragons." Fishlegs says disappointed.

"What about the Razerwhip? What does it eat?" Snotlout asks.

"Sea slugs!" Fishlegs states and Tuffnut freaks out.

"Where?!" Tuffnut asks and trips over himself in fear. "I hate those slimy monsters." He states. "They're just snails without homes. Giant homeless snails!"

"We know several islands that are crawling with sea slugs. If we take those islands and the ones with the Night Fury's eating habits, we can find them." Astrid states. "And we have to be careful. If what Johann has told us about Shadow and Night are true about his stories, they're dangerous."

-

On a far island from Berk, Hiccup is still in his armor flying around trying out new tricks with Toothless while Heather is off with Windshear. They keep souring through the open air ready to do their trick.

"Okay, bud, let's try out that new move." Hiccup says happy and Toothless agrees and they dive downward and fly straight upwards.

"Who! Yeah, baby." Hiccup cheers but it mostly gets muzzled behind his mask.

"That's it, Toothless. Come on, push it! You've got it! Climb higher." Hiccup says as he raises his arms and the clip on the saddle comes undone.

"Oh, boy, not again!" Hiccup shouts as he falls off of Toothless and falls. "Hey, Toothless!" He shouts and the dragon dives after his rider and they just fall near each other.

They just fall, with no emotion to the experience as they're kinda used to it by now and just look at each other.

"Hey." Hiccup greets Toothless calmly as Toothless growls back as a response.

"So, just plummet, or, uh...any ideas?" Hiccup asks as Toothless falls farther and tries catching him but instead he crashes them into a smaller part of the island while holding Hiccup.

"Okay, that was one of your better landings." Hiccup tells Toothless as his dragon looks annoyed. "I've seriously gotta start getting my own pair of wings." He states as he stands up and removes his mask.

As they look out to the island, Hiccup hears a dragon approaching and turns to see Windshear and Heather coming back from her feeding.

"Well, afternoon, milady." Hiccup greets, seeing her come into a landing as Toothless and Windshear run off and start playing. "Where have you been this whole time?" He wonders since she's been gone longer than usual.

"Looking for you." Heather replies to him and while coming up, she scratching Toothless' chin as he comes across her. "I thought you said you wouldn't leave the camp site?" She asks him remembering him saying that.

"Yeah, well, Toothless didn't exactly let me keep the statement when he wanted to go flying." Hiccup explains his actions as she comes up and sits with him.

"Well, just got Johann to come grab most of the stuff and bring them to the Edge for us. So he'll be here in about a day or so, depends if another storm comes in or not." Heather explains when Hiccup sees something in the distance.

"Hey, Heather, you have the spyglass?" He asks her.

"Yeah, why?" She asks while handing it to him and he looks out into the distance and sees the Berk riders.

"I see other people riding dragons. And they look like...oh no." Hiccup realizes as he sees its the gang from Berk.

"What is it?" Heather asks seeing his worried expression rising as he runs to grab his helmet back and puts it on.

"Get your face covered. Use our code names when communicating. We need to get these guys out of here and get our stuff we left at the camp site and get back to the Edge." Hiccup explains as Heather raises her hood and Hiccup places his mask back on.

-

The team from Berk has searched several islands and come across one of the few left.

"I have a good feeling about this island." Fishlegs states.

"That's what you said about the last five islands, Fishface!" Snotlout says annoyed.

"Is it my fault I'm an optimist?" Fishlegs asks. "I'm a 'yak bladder half full' kind of guy." He replies.

"I don't mean to burst your yak bladder, but should we consider what we're supposed to do if we find Night, Shadow or the Razerwhip and Night Fury?" Astrid asks the group.

"We could marry it." Tuffnut suggests.

"And what if Night is riding it?" Snotlout asks him.

"Then Ruffnut can have him. I admit it will be complicated, but I will one day learn to love him as my own." Tuffnut states. "Like a little baby, a child that I can carry in my arms. But I would guess he would be too heavy." He says and they all look at him confused.

Astrid uses her spyglass and sees a campfire. "Guys, there's a campfire. I think this is it." She says to them.

"The Night Fury builds campfires? It's smarter than me." Ruffnut says.

"Come on, let's find out what we can before I loose what brain I have." Snotlout says and flies faster than them.

-

They land on the island near the camp and look around at what they left and see weapons.

"This could be the loot taken from the ship." Fishlegs says seeing the stuff Heather left for Johann to grab.

"And these gashes look familiar." Snotlout says as he looks at the stones surrounding the campsite are filled with scratches from Windshear.

"Okay, search the island for the riders or the Razerwhip and Night Fury. If this fire is just smothering itself, they couldn't have gotten far." Astrid says and they split up across the island.

"Fishlegs, you stay here, signal us if they come back." Astrid says and takes off.

Fishlegs is relieved and starts tossing stones at Meatlug.

"You know, Meatlug, ordinarily, I would pretend to be upset at being left behind, but to be honest, this time I just feel a lot safer being here with you." He states not knowing Heather was there waiting as Windshear wraps her tail around him and pulls him into the trees and knock him out cold.

-

In the sky, Ruff and Tuff are flying around looking for them.

"All right, sis, you look left and I'll look right." Tuffnut says to Ruffnut.

"Wait! My left or your left?" Ruffnut asks him.

"Uh, we have the same left. We're twins." Tuffnut replies.

"Oh, right." Ruffnut states and starts looking.

"We're never going to find these guys." Tuffnut states seeing nothing.

"All I se are trees!" Ruffnut says.

"All I see is my dream of spending my golden years with a Night Fury vanishing before my eyes." Tuffnut says just as Hiccup and Toothless come flying past them and they use Toothless' wings to throw the twins off their dragon.

Tuffnut goes falling and hits his head against multiple branches and looks up at Ruffnut and starts seeing multiple of her.

"Eight Ruffnut's? That's way to many Ruff-" Tuffnut was saying when her branch breaks and falls on top of her brother.

Hiccup comes in and lands near them and checks to see if they're at least alive.

"Well, I should've known it takes more than a 50 foot fall to scratch these guys." Hiccup states through his mask. "That's one Fishlegs and two Hadderson twins down. That leaves Snotlout and Astrid." Hiccup says. "So the hardest for last, and of course Snotlout." He states and Toothless chuckles at that and they fly off.

-

Across the island, Snotlout and Hookfang are flying around looking when he's suddenly gotta _go_ badly.

"Take us down, Hookfang! Hurry!" Snotlout yells and flies down and goes near bushes. "I knew I should've gone before we left." He states and starts going when Windshear cuts the trees around him.

"Can't a Viking get some privacy?" Snotlout asks, angered as Heather releases several logs behind Snotlout and they start rolling at him. Snotlout screams and calls for his dragon but it doesn't come as he runs into a river.

-

As for Astrid, she is searching through the mountain caverns when Stormfly smells something close.

"What is it, girl?" Astrid asks her dragon not seeing anything until she looks up and sees the Night Fury and Night Rider looking in the opposite direction of them.

"Nice work, Stormfly." Astrid says when the Night Fury turns to face them and warns his rider and they start flying away. "Oh, no you don't." She states and starts flying after the Night Fury.

Hiccup tries loosing them through the obstacles of the mountain sides and she stays on their tail.

"It looks like she's gotten maneuvering down. Shouldn't be surprised, she's Astrid." Hiccup states and knows he has to think of something stronger to get rid of her.

"Toothless, blast the mountain." Hiccup whispers and Toothless shoots the loose rocks down onto Astrid and she flies to avoid them and she still stays with them. Hiccup gets ahead and quickly spins around and Toothless blasts while they fly past Astrid.

As they pass each other, Astrid looks into the eye sockets and sees Night Rider's emerald, forest green eyes and feels like she should know who he is. But before she can think, she sees several stones falling on top of them.

"Stormfly, spine shot!" Astrid yells and Stormfly destroys the stones before they hit her.

"Okay, Night, let's finish this." Astrid says to herself and flies after him once again. "Stormfly, don't let them get away! Don't hold back!"

Stormfly starts shooting spikes at them and hits the rider off of the Night Fury and they both fall to the ground. Astrid waits for them on the ground when he tries climbing back on his dragon.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Astrid warns the masked man.

Hiccup goes through his options for a way out and knows she's not gonna stop until she catches them and sees that she's not letting him go anywhere now and goes for the only option left.

"I wouldn't, either." Hiccup agrees with her and reaches for his helmet and takes it off.

Astrid stares at the now faced Dragon Rider and notices his dark brown hair, the eyes she noticed earlier, and...a barely noticeable scar across his chin and knows exactly who he is. She would recognize that face, no matter how old he's gotten, anywhere.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asks in shock never thinking they'd meet again, and especially not like this.

-

Later, Heather brought the teenagers that she had trapped and brought them to the campsite and they're all in shock on who they are.

"You rolled me into a river!" Snotlout shouts to Heather, who also uncovered herself to them.

"You both left me dangling in a tree!" Fishlegs states to them.

"Look, guys, we have a good reason for all of this." Hiccup tried explaining to them.

"I'm sorry, weren't you supposed to be dead?!" Snotlout asks.

"Wait, who said I was dead?" Hiccup asks.

"Well, nobody really said it, we just sorta assumed it after you never came back to Berk after a week." Fishlegs explains.

"Yeah, why not come back and say, I don't know, let us know you were safe?!" Snotlout states.

"I didn't exactly expect you guys to make peace with the dragons after what happened." Hiccup explains. "Besides, I wanted to be free from Berk. From the responsibilities you all tried weighing me down with, trying to be something I'm not."

"Hey, while we're on the subject, where's your leg?" Ruffnut asks while she's stays with Tuffnut, who's still knocked out, and points to Hiccup's prosthetic leg.

"Look, me and Hiccup have been out here on our own for the past few years and we've made some enemies. We were trying to get you guys to go back to Berk." Heather explains to them.

"You could've, I don't know, said that?" Snotlout asks.

"Would you guys have actually listened to me?" Hiccup questions, knowing them better than that.

"He's right. We're pretty known for being stubborn." Astrid admits, seeing his point.

"I don't listen to anyone!" Snotlout also states.

"Guys, please, just go back to Berk and never tell anyone about us." Hiccup begs to them.

"Come on, Can't we at least rest before we travel all the way back? We've been searching for you and your girlfriend all day." Snotlout complains seriously tired.

"How'd you know I was his girlfriend?" Heather asks Snotlout.

"Wait, she actually is? I was trying to mess with you." Snotlout states surprised.

"What do you think, Heather?" Hiccup asks her remembering they make decisions together.

Ruffnut drags Tuffnut against a tree as he starts waking up and sees Toothless.

"Woah. Night Fury. This is the best dream ever." He states as he touches his snout. "It's like I can reach out and touch it." He says and realizes he can.

"I can touch the Night Fury! I, Tuffnut Thorston, take thee, Night Fury whatever your last name is, insert it here, to be my-" Tuffnut was saying when Hiccup walks up behind him and taps his shoulder.

Tuffnut turns and sees Hiccup and notices his outfit is the same as Night Rider's. "Oh, hey Night Hiccup. Wait, what are you doing in my dream? And at my wedding." Tuffnut asks him and touches his shoulder. "I didn't put you on the list."

"Tuff, there several things you need to know. First off, Toothless is a boy, I'm happy to say. And you're not dreaming." Hiccup tells Tuffnut as he looks back at Toothless who's giving a gummy smile.

"Oh. Well, in that case...Night Fury! Run!" Tuffnut shouts and runs away in terror.

"Well, it's nice to see some things never change." Hiccup says to Astrid while chuckling at Tuffnut's stupidity.

"Yeah, same story, different year." Astrid tells him.

"Come on, let's head to the Edge before it gets dark." Heather says and mounts Windshear.

"So, are we taking the others or sending them back?" Hiccup asks her.

"I'm leading the way, what do you think?" Heather asks and flies off.

"Well, come on. You're gonna love Dragons Edge." Hiccup tells them and flies off with them following.

-

They keep flying and come across Dragons Edge in the distance. The dragon riders look in amazement of what they created alone.

"You guys have been living here for the last few years?" Astrid asks Hiccup.

"Ever since I left Berk." Hiccup states as they move into the main hut.

"So, wait, where did you find this girl?" Tuffnut asks Hiccup.

"More importantly, why is she with a scrawny Viking like you when she could have something like me?" Snotlout asks as he leans against Heather.

Heather scoffs in annoyance at this guy and pushes him back and trips him while she's at it.

"You just did what I've been wanting to do for years." Hiccup informs her and she smiles at him.

"Let's just say after everything you told me about him, I've been waiting to do it myself." Heather replies to her man.

"Never mind him. How did you train a Night Fury, Hiccup? It's incredible!" Fishlegs starts geeking out.

"Well, it's kinda a long story. I did tell you guys I shot down a Night Fury one night, but nobody believed me, so I sneaked out to find him. After searching every inch of Berk, I found him near a creak, tied up and unconscious but alive. I was getting ready to go for the kill when he woke up and I...I guess I looked into his eyes and saw myself. And I couldn't do it, so I let him go but he never left Berk. I wondered why until I saw that he was missing a tail. Then Gobber said how without wings dragons can't fly so I made him a new tail. After I was chosen to kill the dragon, I decided its time to leave Berk. That's where I met Heather, on my way while leaving. She was in a wrecked ship that was hit in the storm a few nights back. Then I showed her what being a Dragon Rider is about and we found why the dragons were stealing our food. They were being controlled by some giant dragon we named the Red Death. That's when Heather said she would like to come with me rather than go to Berk." Hiccup says when Heather interrupts.

"And judging on Snotlout's behavior, I made the right choice." Heather states and lets him continue.

"So, I knew she needed a dragon. That's when we went back and freed Windshear." Hiccup explains.

"Awesome name!" Tuffnut says, interrupting his story. "I bet you ride like the wind, while shearing through it. Get it? I used both of the words in the name and explained why she's called that!" He cheers.

"Oh gods, why couldn't he have changed?" Hiccup asks and continues. "So we went back to fight the Red Death, the queen of the nest, and we defeated it. At the cost of my leg." He states pointing to his prosthetic leg.

"And after that, we came here and built a home for us and dragons to be safe from others. Then we've been traveling around villages and saving dragons who have been kept captive all these years. We've become the perfect duo. The most unstoppable team." Heather states smiling.

"We haven't visited Berk for safety. I assumed you guys already released or killed the captive dragons." Hiccup explains.

"Ha! I guess they're pretty cool, but not as cool as my dragon." Snotlout says and calls Hookfang. "Flame up!" He says and Hookfang lights himself on fire.

"Aw, that's cute." Hiccup states while mockingly smiling and looks to Heather.

"Windshear, tail slice!" Heather commands and Windshear uses her tail to cut the board around Snotlout.

"Ha! She missed." Snotlout mocks when Toothless blasts the floor board and cuts it off and Snotlout falls through it. "Okay, we'll call it a draw."

"What else can they do?" Fishlegs asks.

"Windshear's breath can burn the flesh off a human from 100 feet." Heather states as Snotlout tries climbing out of the hole.

"One blast from Toothless is stronger than the best catapult or quiver in the archipelago." Hiccup tells them.

"Or single blade from Windshear's tail blade is as deadly as the sharpest battle-ax." Heather says as they keep listing their dragons skills.

"Are we sure this is the same Hiccup we knew on Berk?" Fishlegs asks Astrid confused.

"Well, it has been three years since we last saw him. It's just so...strange." Astrid replies looking over the person she once knew. "Last time we saw him, he was just getting good at being a dragon killer and now we find him, he lives in a dragon sanctuary with some girl, rescuing dragons while destroying ships." She says listing how different he is from scrawny loser to a archipelago traveling dragon hero in just three years.

"Which we still need to ask them about." Fishlegs reminds her.

"Yeah. But maybe after I ask about Heather's battle-ax." Astrid says seeing the weapon Hiccup made her. "I want them to show me how to make one myself." She explains while watching Heather fight off Turfnut and Ruffnut and take them down while destroy their weapons in the process.

-

Later on, the others are resting wile Hiccup and Heather are talking about their plans to find and stop Dagger when Astrid comes in.

"Hey, Hiccup? You mind if I talked to you for a minute?" Astrid asks and looks towards Heather. "You know, alone?" She asks and Heather gets the hint.

"I'll come back later." Heather tells Hiccup and leaves them alone. "Okay, I guess you've got my attention. What do you want to talk about?" Hiccup asks Astrid, not knowing what she could want.

"About those ships you and Heather destroyed." Astrid explains.

"Oh, yeah. I thought that was a Berk ship that spotted us." Hiccup says, while scratching back of his neck.

"Hiccup, what exactly are you and her doing out here?" She asks him. "We're taking care of personal business. Nothing for you guys to be concerned about." Hiccup tells her.

"If there's dragon riders attacking random ships for no reason and the ones responsible are the same people who have been attacking villages and freeing dragons, I worry." Astrid informs him.

"Look, Astrid, things have changed these years I've been away form Berk. Everything's changed. _I've_ changed. Last you saw me, I was being held back to be what all of Berk wanted me to be. You all just wanted me to be some great dragon killer, while I just wanted to stop the fighting. But I knew you wouldn't listen to me, nobody would." Hiccup states and looks away from her.

"So, just leave me and Heather alone...and get some rest. It's a long flight back to Berk." He warns her and leaves to find Heather so they can talk in private, without them around.

He can't let their appearance distract him from what's important. They've found where Dagger is gonna be thanks to Johann, and they need to strike while they can.

But they can't with them still around, so he knows what they have to do at sundown before they leave.


	11. Alliances

Using the cover of night, Hiccup and Heather are dressed in their Night and Shadow suits and wait until the gang are all asleep in the guest hut and go for their dragons and lock them in the stalls.

"Sorry, guys. It's nothing personal." Hiccup says as they get on their dragons and fly off.

They didn't realize that the Nadder they locked up wasn't Stormfly but one of their own as Astrid watches them fly away.

"Okay, let's get some real answers, girl." Astrid says and flies after them.

She keeps her distance and watches as they fly towards a ship and seem to be having a conversation with the man,and tries seeing who it is with her spyglass.

"Come on, who are you?" Astrid asks as the man turns around and she sees Trader Johann. "Wait, Joann knew about Hiccup being out here and after all these years, and he never said anything to us?" Astrid asks completely confused.

-

On the boat, Johann hands the Rider's a map and they start leaving.

"Thank you, Johann. Pleasure doing business with you as usual." Hiccup says through his mask that's muffling his voice a bit.

"The feeling is quite mutual, Master Night. I can assure you, I enjoy your bargains of new shipment of Groncle iron. There's thousands of buyers out there who wish to know where I get it for their tools. But as I promised you both, I never say where the Edge is located, unless it's to the people of Arendelle." Johann says to them as they get on their dragons and take off.

Astrid moves Stormfly into the darkness so they're not spotted and watches Hiccup and Heather take off.

"Okay, Johann. I can't get Hiccup to talk, but I have a feeling that I can make you sing much more easier." Astrid states and flies towards his ship.

Once she lands, Johann spots her and is surprised. "Miss. Astrid, What a surprise to see you this far out from Berk." He says trying to stay calm.

"Johann, I want to talk to you about a couple of riders." She says getting straight to the point.

"I'm sorry, I've been sworn to secrecy." Johann states. "The chief of the headhunting Asmat trig from Papua New Guinea couldn't part these lips!" He says proud of himself and Heather slams her axe on his table.

"Well, how about Stoick the Vast of the Hooligan tribe from Berk?" She asks him, threateningly. "Do you know what trade sanctions are?" She asks him.

"Two words that should never be used in the same sentence?" Johann asks, getting scared when Stormfly gets ready to strike, and he's ready to squeal. "Right, where shall I begin?" He asks Astrid.

"Do you know who the Night and Shadow Rider are?" She asks and sees he's struggling to answer.

"So, you've learnt who they are, have you?" Johann asks her and she nods.

"Well, it was a storm that brought me to their home one faithful night." Johann informs her. "They saved me when my boat was trapped in the middle of a storm, worse storm I've seen in years. It reminded me of when-"

"Johann!" Astrid interrupts him, getting him back on topic.

"Sorry. They brought me to their home when they found me unconscious adrift in the ocean. Then I realized it was the Night Rider that I have heard so much about in my travels and Shadow Rider. I didn't know it was Master Hiccup until about a while of doing business with them." Johann explains to her.

"What business do you deal with them? Is it the ships they're attacking?" She asks him.

"The ships...I suppose it has to do with Miss Shadow's entire village, including her own family, being decimated by a rather nasty group of undesirables. They've made it their mission to avenge the island she called home and her family." Johann tells her.

"And Hiccup supports her?" Astrid asks not realizing that she never actually got told where Heather came from, just that she washed up on Berk when Hiccup told them.

"Master Night uses his alter ego he has been given to help her, yes." Johann explains.

"What are they doing sinking and looting ships?" She asks.

"They're not looting. They're redistributing back to the victims of the horrible crimes. Every thieving ship they attack means they'll get back what they've lost. I supply them with the whereabouts of the ships. But her lost loved ones can't be replaced." Johann corrects her.

"But why? What do they have to gain?" She asks.

"It has to do with their hearts, I suppose. But I can't exactly explain their true purpose." Johann explains.

"Johann, why do you always do this? We know you're gonna tell me. So why not save us the trouble and just tell me?" Astrid questions since it seems to be their pattern.

"I suppose you do have a point. Picture if you will, a brilliant sunny day on the Emerald Isle Of Karantha when I got a strange-" he was goon off topic and Astrid is getting frustrating by him getting distracted easily.

"Johann, where are they heading?!" Astrid yells.

"It's not merely where they're going, Miss Astrid, it's who they're going after. The one who took her family. The ex-leader of Berserker Tribe. Dagger the Deranged." Johann explains everything.

-

The morning sun comes up and Hiccup and Heather are flying when they come across the boat.

"I see the Berserker crest on that ship." Hiccup informs Heather. "This is for my family, for my whole village. I want my face to be the last thing Dagur sees." Heather states as she removes her mask.

"Heather, are you sure? We still have the element of surprise here." Hiccup says when they suddenly see several more ships coming out.

"What in the name of Thor?" Heather asks and they disappear into the clouds and see Dagur has a small armada protecting him.

"This could be a pretty big problem." Hiccup states after seeing the ships.

-

On the ship, Dagur is looking out when Savage notices the dragons above them.

"Sir, Those dragons have been circling us for a while." Savage states to Dagur.

"I've never seen dragons like those before." Dagur says.

"Neither have I." Savage agrees. "What should we do?" He asks Dagur.

"Well, you know what I always say. When in doubt, take it out." Dagur says as they start firing at the dragons.

Toothless and Windshear work to avoid the shots.

"Heather, we need a better-" Hiccup tries telling her they need a better plan when she suddenly goes in to fight. "Why would I expect her to listen when he's this close?" He asks Toothless and he growls in response.

Hiccup wondered what they're going to do when suddenly, the ship fires a chain and it traps Windshear's tail.

"No!" Both Hiccup and Heather shout as they start firing more and trap Windshear.

"Reel in that spiny menace and take down the second one!" Dagur shouts as they try taking down Windshear and she tries getting away as more ships are approaching.

"Were they expecting us?" Hiccup asks himself as it seems they've walked into a trap. "Dagur can't be smart enough to figure out we're after him." He states and goes to help Heather.

Heather is fighting off the chains when Dagur sees her. "Well, hello, Heather. It's been a long while. So you're the famous Shadow Rider?" Dagur states an Heather gets angry. "Come on, pull harder! She could be useful to us! Especially to bring Night Rider and his Night Fury to us." Dagur tells his men as Heather is struggling to break free.

"Night Rider?!" Heather shouts as Hiccup comes in and tries blasting the chains and they don't break.

"What? Dragon proof chains?" Hiccup asks confused when he gets hit by a chain and falls off of Toothless.

Heather watches as they fall when another chain flies up and wraps around her, trapping them as she hears Hiccup and Toothless crash into the water.

Hiccup thankfully made the mask so it would stick to him and gives him some air as he tries reaching Toothless when a chain wraps around him and pulls him from Toothless as another chain traps Toothless.

Dagur just laughs maniacally as he finally claims the two most powerful dragon trainers and the most powerful dragons. Hiccup gets pulled out of the water with Toothless and comes face to face with Dagur.

"Well, look at this. It's the legendary Night Rider and his Night Fury." Dagur says as Hiccup tries gasping for air, without removing his mask.

In the air, Heather is trying to get free from the chains around her and Windshear.

"Come on, Windshear, get us out of here!" Heather tells her dragon, trying to get free.

"Oh, Heather, don't fight it." Dagur states to her, as he looks back to Hiccup.

"You know, I've heard stories about you for years when I was imprisoned all these years about you two. Never would've expected that Heather was the one Shadow Rider. So, I wonder who you are." Dagur states reaching for Hiccup's mask as Toothless tries breaking free of the ropes. Dagur removes his mask and Hiccup gasps for air as he can finally at least breath.

"Well, well, Hiccup. I thought you were dead." Dagur states from what he's been told from Berk.

"Why does everyone just assume I died?" Hiccup asks completely confused by how everyone just assumes that.

"It's been a long time, Hiccup. And look at you, all grown up!" Dagur says seeing how much he's changed from a scrawny fishbone he once knew, to a village conquering dragon hero. "And quite the ladies' man, I'd wager. Hmm?" Dagur says smiling while nodding his eyebrows.

"Dagur, What are you doing with a dragon hunting armada?" Hiccup asks him.

"Well, it's not really for me. It's for my employer." Dagur explains.

"Wait, you're taking orders from someone else? I thought you answered only to yourself." Hiccup questions him.

"And I thought you were a scrawny screwup." Dagur states and sees Hiccup getting angry at him.

"Come on, Hiccup. Join in on the fun. With the two of you and your dragons, we could do anything. All you have to do is blindly follow me and do what I say, and maybe we can get rid of the big guy later down the line and I can be in charge of his building dragon army in the making." Dagur explains as Heather keeps struggling to get free.

"You know, I'd love to. But I'm gonna just take my partner and go." Hiccup says.

"Well, I hoped we could do this the fun way." Dagur says and his men aim at Hiccup when suddenly a spike flies down and they look up to see Stormfly and Astrid coming in.

"Huh, I see you got caught up with your friends." Dagur states and turns to her.

"Well, look at who the dragon flew in! Glad you could join us, Astrid. Now...Take out that Nadder!" Dagur shouts and the ships try taking her down as Astrid maneuvers trough them all.

"Stormfly, get the chains!" Astrid tells her dragon and when she does, it doesn't effect them.

"Nice try, Astrid. You didn't think I'd make it easy for you, did you?" Dagur states, what he didn't know was when his back was turned, Hiccup freed Toothless and smacked Dagur across the ship and flies off to help Heather.

"Come on, bud." Hiccup says as he meets up with Astrid.

"If we can't blast the chains...blast the winches, Astrid." Hiccup says as they fly and blast the winches and set her free.

"Excuse me. What good are dragon-proof chains without dragon-proof winches?!" Dagur asks his men seeing they escape while he was knocked unconscious.

"Come on, let's get out of here, Heather!" Hiccup says as she looks back to Dagur and flies off. Heather, we can't take on Dagur and his fleet all by ourselves!" He pleads with her.

"I'm too close. I might not get this shot again." Heather states as she flies back in to fight.

"This is suicide, Heather." Hiccup tells her.

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes!" Heather states back at him.

"Are you willing to sacrifice everything else, too? The Edge, the dragons, Windshear, me _and_ Toothless?" Hiccup asks and makes her think and realizes what she's doing.

"Heather, there will be another time. We need another plan. I promise you, there will be another time." Hiccup promises and she angrily agrees and they fly off away from the ships.

-

The three of them have been flying in silence for a minute or two, the atmosphere being thick enough to cut with a knife ironically, when Heather breaks the silence.

"Blasting the winches. Pretty smart move, Dragon Boy." Heather states using his nickname while smiling.

"Yeah, and a little luck never hurts, either." Hiccup says as he removes his mask again, and they look at Astrid.

"So, how'd you know where we were going?" Hiccup asks her.

"I followed you guys and talked to Johann. He explained to me what happened, and Dagur wipes out your village..and your family, Heather. I'm truly sorry." Astrid says.

"Then you understand why he has to pay." Heather tells Astrid.

"I do. In fact, we've been chasing Dagur ourselves. You guys don't have to do this alone." Astrid suggests. "We can work together."

"I don't know. It seems we're destined to work by ourselves." Heather says referring to both her and Hiccup being by themselves for the past several years.

"We'll talk about this more with the others if were talking about an alliance." Hiccup states and they keep flying towards the Sanctuary.

-

They make it back to Dragons Edge and everyone is furious on why they locked up the dragons. They try to explain themselves to them as Toothless and Windshear are keeping the other dragons in check.

"Look, we're sorry we locked your dragons in the cages. We didn't trust you guys to allow us to go after Dagur." Hiccup explains.

"Even though you guys popped up out of knowhere, we've been trying to do this for years. We needed to get him to stop." Heather states.

"Trust does need to be earned with people and dragons." Fishlegs says.

"Yeah, we know that from experience. Hard experience." Heather replies, remembering the Triple Stryker incident years ago.

"I don't really trust these guys either." Snotlout states still trying to impress Heather.

"You know we can hear you, right?" Astrid states to him.

"Jealousy is an ugly quality, Astrid." Snotlout says to her.

"And you do realize that I'm with Hiccup, right? And I'm not interested in someone like you." Heather tries explaining.

"What does he have I don't?" Snotlout asks her while flexing his muscles.

"I'm more attracted to brains than brawny guys." Heather states and loves how his expression suddenly changes from smug to nervous.

"Look, Dagur stated that he's working alongside someone. I don't know who. But he's building an army for something. And...we might just need your help." Hiccup says to them.

"I'm sorry, you need our help?" Snotlout asks making sure he heard Hiccup correctly.

"But there's gonna be some ground rules about how we run things. First off, No disturbing the dragons. They're not used to this many people on the island since only Johann has been here before. Second, no telling anyone who we are. Only a handful of people are allowed to know. And you all are a handful by yourselves." Heather tells them.

"And no destroying anything valuable. Twins, I'm looking at you two directly. You're allowed to tell Stoick you're here, but leave my name out of anything. We don't need him to try to drag me back to Berk and away from my home." Hiccup tells them.

"And most important thing, you're gonna need to build your own huts. The only ones here see ours and for the sick and injured dragons, and one for the dragon nursery." Heather states.

"Now, look, Heather and I need to meet up with someone. Try not to destroy everything." Hiccup pleads as they have to go meet up with Johann.

As they left, Astrid starts looking for Stormfly who somehow made her way into Heather's hut.

"Stormfly, What are you doing?" Astrid asks her dragon when said dragon knocked over some of Heather's things.

Astrid quickly starts picking up her things when she notices a horn. "Wait, that's...Stoick's chief seal." She realizes while looking at the horn and know it's not Hiccup's, but what this could mean...she needs to get back to Berk.

From what she remembers about Stoick's family, when his wife Valka went missing, so did Hiccup's twin sister. Could Heather be his missing sister and they never knew it?

-

Heather and Hiccup make it back to the other side of the island and start looking around when they hear leaves rustling.

Heather uses her axe to grab the man and pulls him out of the leaves, and then they see its Johann.

"Johann, what were you doing in the bushes?" Heather asks with her axe at his neck.

"I will gladly answer your questions, Miss Shadow. But would you mind, please, lowering your axe so my frightening soul might be granted safe passage back to my body?" Johann asks her and Heather helps him back on his feet.

"Johann. Thank Thor." Hiccup says seeing he's here.

"Oh, master Hiccup." Johann exclaims and hugs him. "I'm overjoyed you're both not dead. When the Terrible Terror returned with the message I sent you both, I was worried. Then, when I returned to see if you were at the Edge, it looked abandoned. It caused me to fear the worse." He explains to them and that means he sent it when they were gone.

"Sorry for that. We went to where your information sent us and it was like he was waiting for us." Heather states. "And he got away."

"Well, that message I was sending you just happened to have been detailing on the recent whereabouts of the dastardly Berserker." Johann says and reveals his map to them with where Dagur is at. "He is said to purchase a fleet of new ships from a group of salty undesirables in the Sea of Dispair. But be wary. These new ships for his armada are outfitted with powerful anti-dragon winches and catapults. After this deal is done, I won't be able to find him again." He warns them.

"Dagur will be back in the wind. Adrift, like a leaf in the stream." Johann says and acts like he's blowing a leaf away. "And I've used my last grapevine, so I can't offer my invaluable, yet expensive information."

"We got it." Heather promises and they take the map and are ready to stop Dagur for good.

-

As for Astrid, she just made it back to Berk so she can have a word with Stoick.

"Gobber, have you seen the chief?" Astrid asks the one arm/legged Viking.

"Oh, he's in the Great Hall." Gobber says while arguing about the dragons not leaving him alone. "But it's Berk's Gripe Day, so There might be a bit of a wait." He warns Astrid.

Stoick is dealing with ridiculous complaints from the people when Astrid approaches him. "Chief Stoick, I need to talk with you about someone." She says and holds up the horn.

Stoick looks at the horn and looks at it closely. "Where did you get this?" He asks her.

"It belongs to the Night and Shadow Rider's. It has your Chief Seal carved into it." Astrid explains why she brought it. "I remembered you mentioning to all of us how Hiccup's a twin and she was taken when your wife was taken." She states since Hiccup doesn't really talk about his sister or mother.

"When a chief has a child, that child receives many gifts from all over. When Hiccup and his sister, Hala were born, I asked Gobber to make the smallest axe he'd imagined for Hiccup. With a handle tiny enough for a baby to grasp." Stoick starts explaining and Astrid doesn't understand where he's going with this. "I wanted him to start training the moment he could open his eyes. Thought Valka was gonna feed me to the boars. He ended up using it as a paperweight."

"Chief, the horn. It belongs to Shadow. But it has your seal on it. Is there a chance that Shadow could be Hala?" Astrid asks and Stoick looks back at her away from the horn.

-

Back at the Edge, Hiccup and Heather are getting ready to go back out to stop Dagur.

"Wait a minute, you two want to battle Dagur and the Beserkers by yourselves?" Fishlegs asks them.

"Dagur's retrieving ships that have dragon-proof chains and grappling hooks. And the ships he's buying are just as powerful. But if we can get to him while he's vulnerable, Dagur won't know what hit him." Heather informs them.

"And aerial assaults of this magnitude is exactly Toothless' speed. He's the most powerful dragon out here." Hiccup states while scratching Toothless' chin.

"This is our last chance to finally put a stop to him. And don't even trying to stop us." Heather warns them as they're ready to head out.

The others just watch and see that they're serious about this. "If were gonna do this, It has to be a capture mission, not a kill mission. We still need to bring him in ourselves." Fishlegs offers and they see they're offering assistance.

Hiccup looks to Heather and knows it's never been a capture and they're not changing a chance to make Dagur pay for what he did to her family. "Deal." Hiccup lies.

"We'll sink Dagur's armada, drag him back to Outcast Island. Let him rot there." Heather says, going along with Hiccup seeing they could be helpful.

"But shouldn't we wait for Astrid?" Ruffnut asks them.

Hiccup pulls out the map he already memorized and places it where Astrid will find it when she returns. "Now she'll be able to find us." He says and they all mount their dragons and leaves.

-

Dagur is in the Sea of Despair gaining his armada.

"It's a good day to strengthen my armada." Dagur states. "Then again, it's always a good day to strengthen my armada." He corrects and laughs maniacally when Savage tries joining in.

"What are you laughing at?" Dagur asks him causing him to stop.

"The gold is ready for the exchange, sir." Savage tells him. "Should we move it to the deck?" He asks Dagur.

"No, leave it down below." Dagur tells him.

"But when they arrive with the ships, they'll be expecting our gold." Savage states, not understanding.

"Yes! And instead of our gold, we'll give them our steel." Dagur replies while holding out his axe and Savage now understands him.

In the air, the Riders have finally arrived.

"He's down there." Hiccup confirms seeing Dagur on the ship.

"All right, let me guess." Tuffnut offers. "You want to attack like the Dragon Riders that you two are. A full frontal assault!" He says while cheering.

"Actually, we're doing the element of surprise." Heather states since a frontal assault didn't work well for them last time.

They send Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins to distract them from above. As soon as Dagur spots them, he calls for his men to take them down as they shoot the boats but stay high enough to avoid their weapons.

Onboard the ship, Hiccup and Heather were sneaking aboard when there they see Dagur and a handful of men guarding him.

Hiccup leaps in front of him and he shrieks. "Hi there." Hiccup greets when Heather hits him on the back of the head.

Hiccup takes his shield out and he's ready to finish the others off. He uses it to wrap up the man on the grapples and throw him overboard. The noise gets Dagur's attention, but Hiccup and Heather quickly cover to not get spotted.

As for the last man, Windshear used her long tail to pull him offboard the ship. Dagur looks around and sees that there's no one left on his ship.

"What's going on?" Dagur questions while grabbing the grapple and chain when Snotlout comes down and blasts his ship. "Oh, come on, already!" He yells while swinging his chain when it gets caught on Heather's axe.

Heather then pulls on the axe sending Dagur flying and that's where Hiccup once again tied him using the shield. "What are you doing?" Dagur questions thinking it's his own men when he turns to see Hiccup and Heather. "You two?"

"Surprised, Dagur?" Heather asks.

"Two brains are better than your brawn." Hiccup mocks Dagur.

"And twelve ships trumps two brains." Dagur states referring to his armada when Toothless and Windshear join them on the ship and snarl at the man. "I should've seen that coming." He admits.

"Windshear, let's finish this." Heather says as the others land on the ship.

"What?" Snotlout asks, not believing this.

"You guys promised us a capture mission." Fishlegs reminds them.

"Sorry, Fishlegs. This was never a capture mission." Hiccup apologizes to him.

"He's right. Dagur didn't _capture_ my village. So this ends here." Heather says and covers his mouth with a pouch. "Windshear!" She calls her dragon and she gets ready to strike Dagur when spikes come flying in and stops her.

"Stop!" Astrid's voice calls out and they see her and Stormfly coming in and lands. "Heather, Hiccup, stop! You don't understand!" States to them.

"This is our time, now, Astrid. We're finishing this!" Heather states as Dagur tries breaking free of the ropes.

"Look. I found this in your place." Astrid says and reveals her horn.

"That's mine from my family, but what are you doing with it?" Heather asks her.

"This horn has chief Stoick's chief seal on it." Astrid says showing it to them.

Hiccup takes the horn and looks at it closely. "My dad's seal is carved into her horn?" He questions and wonders why he never noticed that over the years. Yet again, Heather has never mentioned this horn before. He then looks at Heather and remembers how his mother and sister were abducted by dragons when they were little.

"What are you saying?" Heather questions as she doesn't understand what's happening, but she remembers how Hiccup mentioned his sister once.

"Years ago, Stoick gave this horn to the Chief of the Beserker tribe, Oswald the Agreeable, as a gift for his newborn daughter. That was you, Heather. Oswald is your father...and he's also Dagur's." Astrid explains and now it feels like Heather's world has been flipped on its head.

"Brother?" Hiccup asks, just as confuse as Heather.

The moment gets interrupted by Dagur's crew coming in to give support. They start boarding the ship and they know they need to get out of here.

"Heather, we need to go, now." Hiccup says as he grabs his mask and starts using his shield to hold them back and sees Heather kneeling down in confusion.

Dagur was able to rip through the ropes and starts laughing before looking at Heather. The rest of Dagur's crew begin to board the ship.

"Come on, Heather!" Hiccup yells as he mounts Toothless.

"Heather, I'm the only family you've got left." Dagur says when Toothless starts growling at him knowing that isn't true. "Join me, sister! Don't fight destiny. I know you feel the Beserker blood flowing through your veins." He states as Windshear helps hold back the men.

Heather looks towards Dagur and back at Hiccup who's getting concerned about her.

"You're wrong. You're my only _blood_ family." She informs Dagur knowing she has friends and Hiccup, before mounting her dragon and taking for the skies.

"Come back, sis! _Heather the Unhinged _has a nice ring to it, no?" Dagur asks as they fly away. "You'll be back, and I'll welcome you with open arms." He promises her but Heather knows she doesn't need him.

"We'll have to hold that reunion." Dagur says before turning to see Toothless flying at him. "What?!" He asks as Toothless whacks him with his tail before taking off.

"I should've seen that coming, too." Dagur also admits as the riders do their best to destroy the fleet before flying back to the Edge.

-

Once they returned, Heather went back to her hut while a million thoughts run through her mind. Her brother is the same man who killed her first family. That's not exactly a normal thing anyone else has to deal with.

As she's thinking, her doors open and she looks to see Hiccup. "So that was a very eventful day." He tries joking.

"That's one way to put it." Heather says as Hiccup joins her on her bed. "What do we do now?" She wonders.

"Dagur still needs to be stopped, if you're up for it." Hiccup says to her.

"He's my brother, Hiccup. How are you so calm?" She asks since the news barley stunned him.

"I'm not entirely calm. If everything goes well with us, I might have him as a brother." Hiccup states and Heather laughs.

"So, nothing changes between us?" Heather asks regarding their relationship.

"No, I don't care about who your family is." Hiccup assures her and pulls her head to his shoulder. "I just care about who you are. And you're an archipelago dragon hero, who's been by my side for years, and that's where I'm gonna be." He assures her and kissed her head.

"We're gonna be stuck with these guys, aren't we?" Heather asks about the gang.

"They could be able to help us stop Dagur and whoever he's working for." Hiccup admits.

"I wonder who that is." Heather replies.

-

In the arctic waters, Drago Bludvist is building a dragon armada. With help from Viggo Grimborn and Dagur capturing dragons for his army, but these Night and Shadow riders are becoming a thorn in his plans.

Along with the other two riders doing the same thing.

One of them riding a Stormcutter, and another riding a dragon that resembles a Night Fury.

But rest assured, he will get his plan into motion, but Erret is failing on his end on capturing the dragons. He gave Erret a good reminder in the shape of a brand mark on his shoulder and promised to be less forgiving the next time he returned empty handed.

He wants the heads of the two who are ruining his plans to end all dragons, and they must be dealt with.

All four of the Riders.


	12. Old faces

Once Hiccup and Heather got their guests settled into the Edge and got them their own huts, they started to get everything they could to keep Dagur out of their base.

But there is now a new problem with a new dragon that is wrecking their home. They've all been waiting for it to strike again, and most of them have fallen asleep and have left Snotlout on duty.

Snotlout as well is falling asleep and is forcing himself to stay awake.

"Ugh, why do we have to be the ones to stay on Rumblehorn watch?" Snotlout asks and looks to his dragon who is also asleep. "Hookfang, I'm taking to you." He tells his dragon. "We're never gonna stop this crazy dragon from tearing this stupid Edge apart." He states when something sets off one of their traps and the end is attached to Hookfang and it causes the dragon to open his mouth and burn Snotlout's pants.

"Ah! Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" Snotlout shouts and it wakes up everyone while he's rubbing himself on the floor. "This is the third time this week!" He complains as he leaps into a barrel of water, putting the fire out.

"The Rumblehorn! It's heading to the eastern beach." Hiccup says as everyone mounts their dragons and take off to stop the dragon.

They make it to the site to see something caught in their net.

"Finally, we caught it!" Heather states, happy to be rid of the dragon destroying their home.

"Everyone stand back." Hiccup warns them, since they don't know how dangerous the dragon is.

"I didn't think it would be so smelly." Tuffnut states, not listening to Hiccup as Ruffnut and Tuffnut move closer to it.

"I didn't think it would be so hairy." Ruffnut also comments on the Rumblehorn.

"You try shaving with a hook for an arm!" The all too familiar voice of Gobber says and Hiccup takes his mask from Toothless' saddle and places it on. Heather watches as he does so and decides to raise her mask to hide her face as well. Being how easily they recognized Hiccup, he wasn't going to take any chances.

"The Rumblehorn talks! Quick, smack it." Tuffnut suggests when Gobber's head becomes viable as me pushes it out.

"Cut me down, you simpleton!" Gobber tells them.

"And it's got a bad attitude." Ruffnut says as Gobber gets annoyed and ends up using his hook to cut himself down.

"Gobber, what did you do with our Rumblehorn?" Tuffnut asks Gobber as he gets out of the net.

"Rumblehorn? What's a Rumblehorn?" Gobber asks them.

"A new dragon that's been been chasing us off of our island." Heather informs him and Gobber just notices the two masked figures.

"Yeah, us and everything else." Astrid states.

"We've been trying to catch it and relocate it." Hiccup replies.

"Yet we caught you. Yay, us." Snotlout says, annoyed.

"You're trying to catch a dragon with a net that can't hold a one legged, one armed Viking? Amateurs." Gobber comments.

"Well, it's not like we have much material to _catch_ dragons. We're not in the business of hurting as much as saving them." Heather tells him.

"Not too soon to club him still." Tuffnut comments. "I can give him a little "ah! Uh!" You know." He says while swinging his hands like he's holding an club.

"You know, we should just make it back and check on the Edge." Heather comments as they start walking.

"I don't think I've had a chance to properly introduce myself." Gobber says looking to Hiccup and Heather. "Blacksmith Gobber. And you are?" He asks them.

"Night Rider." Hiccup says as the mask muffled his voice hopefully enough so he's unrecognizable.

"Shadow Rider." Heather says, introducing herself to the man.

"You are the two who were terrorizing those boats near Berk, weren't you?" Gobber asks them.

"We have a perfectly good reason for that." Hiccup states as they make it to the Edge.

"Well, Let's see where you all set up base for the time." Gobber tells the teens and sees nothing but destruction and all the dragons are gone again. "It looks very..."

"Trashed!" Heather interrupts him, seeing the state of her home.

"Your words, not mine, lassie." Gobber tells her.

"My Thor, the Rumblehorn must have hit the Edge while we were out chasing you." Hiccup tells him annoyed of the Rumblehorn destroying all of his and Heather's hard work.

"Last chance. I can still club him." Tuffnut keeps telling them. "Come on, club, club, club. Join the club."

"As much as I love a good clubbing, even my own, it will have to wait." Gobber states. "I'm here for a reason. I've come with disturbing news about the chief." He says and that gets their attention.

"Is he all right?" Fishlegs asks Gobber.

"Oh, he's fine. But then again, not so fine." Gobber tells them.

"Gobber, you're giving us mixed messages. Is he okay, or isn't he?" Astrid asks him.

"Oh, he's as fit as a dragon. Unfortunately, he's as ornery as one, too." Gobber says and that upsets Toothless as he snarled at the one armed, legged Viking.

"No offense." Gobber apologizes to the terrifying dragon as Toothless just covers himself with his tail. "I've never seen him like this, angry, shouting at everyone." Gobber comments.

"Well, that does sound like normal Stoick the Vast." Astrid states.

"Yeah, he's been that way for years since Hiccup..." Snotlout states and looks towards the masked man in question.

"You think I would have sailed in a boat by myself for a week if it were vintage Stoick the Vast? He's driving the village crazy!" Gobber states to them.

"Okay, that means someone better see what's going on with him." Fishlegs suggests.

"Good idea." Gobber tells them.

"I'll do it, I suppose." Astrid says. "You wanna fly back on me and Stormfly, Gobber?" She asks him.

"Actually, I think I might stay a while, help repair your dragon home." Gobber suggests. "See if I can offer up any of some of my dragon killing experience to help defend against that Rumblehorn. If there's time, I'll take Tuffnut up on that clubbing."

"It works with Tuffnut!" Tuffnut states raising his fists in the air.

"Before you do anything, make sure to at least run it by us. If there's anything to harm dragons on this island, I don't want it hurting any other dragons other than the one." Heather warns him.

"I can live with that." Gobber agrees to her.

"I get it. So you're hiding here to hide from Stoick?" Astrid asks him, seeing straight through him.

"One might look at it that way." Gobber comments to her as she flies off towards Berk.

-

"These attacks are getting worse every time." Heather states to them. "I'm not even sure where it came from. We've been here for years, it hasn't showed up until recently. So it has to go."

"Hey, our boar pit survived!" Tuffnut yells. Since they will be with them for the time being, Hiccup and Heather allowed the twins to do whatever it took to keep the two of them from blowing everything up. So they decided to give them a boar pit. But really it's just a small hole under their hut, it's not like they were smart enough to know. "I like a pit, but I _love_ a boar pit."

"You call that a boar pit? Ha!" Gobber laughs at seeing their excuse of a boar pit. "I've dug my way out of shallow graves deeper than that."

"Would you look at theses Rumblehorn tracks?" Fishlegs asks seeing the tracks on the ground. "If you take into account the width and depth of the footprints, and the distance between them, this dragon must be seriously-"

"Hefty. One might even say beefy." Gobber interrupts him.

"Does somebody want to tell me why we're rebuilding this place?" Snotlout asks, frustrated about how many times they've rebuilt the place. "He's just gonna to crash through and wreck it again." He compalins.

"Because this is our only home, Snotlout. We loose this place, we have nowhere to go." Heather tells him. "You guys might have Berk, but we don't."

"He wouldn't destroy your home if you could build a defensive wall properly." Gobber tells them as he grabs a piece of wood. "Well, don't just stand there, if you want to learn, follow me." He says as he starts walking with everyone behind him as Heather walks towards Hiccup to talk to him.

"You do realize that we can't keep this up every time someone from your past visits." Heather states to Hiccup. "I mean, Daggur already knows, why not tell him who you are?"

Hiccup then takes off his mask seeing Gobber is far enough away and can't see. "Because if he were to go to Berk and tell my father, he's most likely to come here himself and drag me back to Berk." Hiccup explains to her.

"Then you're going to keep on hiding your face every time? You told them who you were." Heather states pointing to the teenagers.

"Because If I didn't, there was the probability of Astrid using a Deadly Nadder to burn me and Toothless into a crisp." Hiccup defends his action. "I didn't exactly expect all of us to be after the same thing, to see Dagur suffer and them living at our base." He says putting his mask back on and head back to join the others.

-

Gobber has finished putting together a wall made up from boulders from the ground up. "I have to admit, that's one impressive wall." Astrid states seeing it built.

"It should stop the Rumblehorn at least from the ground." Heather says.

"I'm gonna call her Greta, after my first love. Large, sturdy. Beefy, some would say." Gobber comments and Hiccup sees that some things never change when they hear a roar coming from over the wall.

"It's coming from the west! And it's getting closer!" Fishlegs screams hearing it. Hiccup mounts Toothless and flies up to finally at least see what it looks like. He sees trees being pushed out of the way and sees something heading for the wall.

"Everyone, mount up!" Hiccup tells the team and they do exactly that and take for the sky. Gobber though is just holding against the wall.

"I'm not moving! The wall will hold." He states when a crash comes from the Rumblehorn and it does hold. "Ha! I told you my Greta would hold." Gobber cheers when suddenly the posts he kept to stand, start falling. "Oh, Greta, how could you?" Gobber asks as he's crushed onto him.

-

They start moving the logs off Gobber until he's visible and start pulling him out. "Hurry and move the logs, guys!" Hiccup tells them as they get him out.

"Gobber, you all right?" Hiccup asks him, hoping his old friend is safe.

"Good morning, mommy. Is it time for dragon-killing school?" Gobber asks and they see he has some sorta concussion.

"Hey, at lest the wall held." Snotlout says and they all see him leaning against it. "Of course, everything else got crushed."

They look up and see Astrid returning with Stoick himself on Stormfly.

"Oh, this day just got worse." Hiccup states realizing he now needs to keep a lie from the man who knows when he's telling a lie.

"Nice to see you, chief. You're looking very fit." Tuffnut says, trying his best to keep a cool face and is failing very quickly. "Your hands seem to be rough and well-worked. Anyway, welcome to Rumblehorn hell." He says and Heather has her all too familiar _I told you so _face on to Hiccup. But most of it is blocked by her mask.

"You weren't kidding about having dragon problems." Stoick says as they join them.

"Did anyone get hurt?" Astrid asks them.

"Well, we're not entirely sure." Heather says and points towards Gobber.

"Hello, loves. Who'd like some figgy pudding?" Gobber asks, while holding a shoe.

"What's wrong with him?" Stoick asks them.

"Well, chief, you can start with the peg leg." Tuffnut responds. "And then add the hook and the bad breath, weird neck. I mean, look at his neck."

"He'll be fine. He got hit by a watchtower." Hiccup explains, stopping Tuffnut from talking while Gobber is with Toothless laughing for no apparent reason.

"Ah, you're killing me. Who knew you were such a card?" He asks Toothless as he leaves Gobber laughing.

"Okay, these Rumblehorn attacks are getting out of hand. We really have to do something, or we might just lose the Edge." Heather tells Hiccup, and he agrees.

"Shadow, you search the eastern coastline with Astrid. Ruff, Tuff, you have the West. And I will take the middle of the island." Hiccup tells them the plan.

"Fishlegs and Snotlout, you take care of Gobber and keep fixing the Edge."

"Good plan, I'll join you, Night Rider." Stoick says and Hiccup now regrets his decision.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute there, _dragon master_. How come I have to stay behind?" Snotlout asks as Gobber is going crazy.

"Argh, I'm a dragon." Gobber says being ridiculous.

"Okay, fine, you wanna hunt the unstoppable, bloodthirsty dragon instead?" Hiccup asks him, knowing he's still the pretend hero he remembers from Berk all those years.

"Bloodthirsty dragon, huh?" Snotlout says and starts considering his options. "On second thought, I don't want to give you guys an unfair advantage. So I should probably stay behind and protect one of the archipelago's national treasures." He says, with a hand on Gobber's shoulder.

"The sun is a shiny potato covered in drawn butter." Gobber says, while looking into the sun.

"And the moon is a scoop of ice cream." Snotlout says, enjoying messing with Gobber.

"Have fun with the chief slash your father." Heather whispers to Hiccup and takes off on Windshear, and Hiccup sees he has to be perfectly calm with this.

-

Heather and Astrid fly east and make it to the coastline and see a Nadders eating and fly away from them, seeing the Rumblehorn hasn't made it to them yet. But as soon as they left, the Rumblehorn charged at them and the Nadders flew away.

-

With Hiccup and Toothless, they're flying with Stoick on his dragon. Never in a million moons would he think he would use those word in a sentence.

"This island of yours is spectacular, Night. Should I be calling you something else?" Stoick asks Hiccup.

"Uh, N-_Night_ is fine, Stoick, and thanks. And thank you , but we're not gonna be able to keep it if we don't solve the Rumblehorn problem." Hiccup says, trying not to stutter or give anything to his identity away.

"Right. When exactly did you start having trouble with this dragon?" Stoick asks him.

"It started a few weeks ago. It hasn't happened before in the time we've been here. And then suddenly it was everywhere. First it went after our dragons, then it started coming after us." Hiccup explains to him.

"And how many dragons has it killed?" Stoick asks.

"None yet. This dragon is more than strong. It's fast, smart and it's elusive. None of us have even gotten a good look at the dragon."

"This does seem like quite the challenge, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it seems that way."

"Look at the us. Two Viking heroic men on the hunt, scheming to catch a wild beast." Stoick says cheerfully and Hiccup is kinda sad that the first real father-son time is like this and he doesn't even know it's his son. He gets interrupted from his thoughts when dragons start flying away in terror.

"There!" Both Stoick and Hiccup say at the same time and fly towards it.

But as soon as they land, they look to see the Rumblehorn is gone once again.

"You see what I mean? Every time, we just miss it." Hiccup tells Stoick.

"Well, we didn't see it fly away, so it has to be on foot. But which way?" Stoick asks and Hiccup sees the path of destruction.

"Over here. Check the direction of the trees he took down." Hiccup tells him.

"After you, Night." Stoick says and Hiccup walks ahead and they follow the tracks for a while and they still can't find it.

"These footprints are fresh. We should be right on top of it." Hiccup says looking to see they still can't find it.

"It's like the beast can sense us coming, and then it changes direction." Stoick says, agreeing with him. "A truly worthy adversary."

They keep walking when Hiccup realizes they've been here before.

"Wait, did we walk in a circle?" Hiccup questions.

"The beast has doubled back on us." Stoick says looking where they came from.

"Wait, you think it knows we're hunting it?" Hiccup asks him.

"No, I think it's hunting us." Stoick corrects him.

"Well, that's good." Hiccup says while shaking his head, that's still wearing his mask. "No, I prefer it much more the other way around. What are you thinking?"

Stoick walks up to a broken tree and breaks off its branch with an idea.

"I might have an idea on how we're going to catch this beast." Stoick tells him.

Later the plan is in place and Stoick is using himself to bait the creature out.

"_Well, I've got my club and I've got my rope. And I smell like a yack 'cause I don't use soap. I'm a Viking through and through!_" Stoick sings when the Rumblehorn comes out of the woods and they see its huge body, gigantic horns, and enormous wings.

"Well, you're magnificent!" Stoick comments on the dragon. "And you've got a lot to say, don't you?" He asks as the Rumblehorn lets out a roar.

"Now, let's see if you can back it up." Stoick says and charges at the dragon as it does the same when Hiccup and Toothless come flying in and try using a net to stop the Rumblehorn But it avoids it.

"D-Stoick! Get out of there!" Hiccup tells him, almost slipping and calling him _dad_.

"Not a chance!" Stoick says and pulls out his rope and uses it to wrestle with the Rumblehorn before it takes them up into the sky.

"Well, my dad's as stubborn as he was when I left." Hiccup tells Toothless before flying off to catch Stoick as he dropped the rope and is now plummeting to the ground.

As he's falling, the Rumblehorn turns around and flies at him.

"Oh, you want a piece of me on the way down, do you?" Stoick asks. "Come and get some!" He dares the dragon when Hiccup flies in and catches him while flying away from the Rumblehorn.

"We'd better get to Dragon's Edge for reinforcements." Hiccup tells father before flying off.

"This isn't over, Rumblehorn!" Stoick promises the dragon.

-

At the Edge itself, they return after sundown to see everyone still rebuilding.

"Where's Gobber?" Stoick asks and then they see he's chasing the boars.

"Come back, please." Stoick asks the boars.

"Boar pit." Snotlout explains.

"Did you find the Rumblehorn?" Heather asks him.

"More like he found us." Hiccup tells his partner.

"Ha! Gave us a good run, that one." Stoick adds.

"We're going to resupply, and then we all need to go look for it." Hiccup explains why he returned.

"Eh, I bet I can find him, like right now." Tuffnut tells him.

"Oh, really?" Snotlout asks. "How's that?"

"Wait for it..bing." Tuffnut says and points to the moon where the Rumblehorn is.

"What the-? Ah!" Hiccup complains, trying to find out how it knew where they were. "Everyone, on your dragons! We need to draw him away from Dragon's Edge!" He tells them.

"It tracked you all the way here?" Heather asks while running to Windshear.

"Impressive." Stoick says.

"Hey, let's catch him first. The we can admire him." Hiccup tells Stoick and gets on Toothless and fly off to be blocked by the Night Terrors as they're flying away.

"Where are all the Night Terrors going?" Hiccup asks when the Rumblehorn flies past them.

"And why isn't the Rumblehorn following us?" Stoick asks.

"Because it's following him." Hiccup realizes and see Stoick is left on the island.

"Mr. Boar come back. I just want to have a friendly chat." Gobber tells the boars as the Rumblehorn comes at him.

"Let's get his attention, bud." Hiccup tells Toothless and shoots a plasma blast but he doesn't seem to care as he keeps chasing Gobber.

"Windshear, spine shot!" Heather tells her dragon and the Rumblehorn still doesn't seem to mind as everyone tries using their dragons and it's not stopping.

"For as powerful as that dragon is, he doesn't seem to have a real thirst for blood." Stoick comments.

"Not yet, but it's still going after Gobber." Hiccup says and knows there's only one option left. "I hate to do this, but it's the Rumblehorn or Gobber. We may only get one shot at this, bud." He tells Toothless and knows he needs to put the dragon down.

"This doesn't make any sense." Stoick says and looks to the dragons who are abandoning the island. "Unless...Wait!" He tells Hiccup and moves the dragon so it avoids the Rumblehorn.

"What are you doing?" Hiccup asks Stoick when he sees the Rumblehorn stop in front of Gobber and roar.

"If that dragon wanted to hurt people, he'd have done it by now." Stoick explains to them. "Something else is going on."

"Like what?" Hiccup asks.

"Only one way to find out." Stoick says and they fly towards the Rumblehorn.

"Stoick. You remember Pepe?" Gobber asks Stoick.

"Yes, yes, Gobber. Pepe and I need to have a wee talk." Gobber says and walks up to the Rumblehorn.

"Night, have you met Pepe?" Gobber asks Hiccup who face palms himself.

Stoick walks up to the Rumblehorn as it lowly growls at him.

"What is it you really want, dragon?" Stoick asks when the Rumblehorn looks out to the sea. "I think this dragon is trying to tell us something." He says when the Rumblehorn slams the ground and all the dragons take off and start circling the Edge.

"What's going on, Windshear?" Heather asks her dragon, confused what's gotten in to her.

"I think you're right." Hiccup agrees with Stoick when the Rumblehorn grabs Stoick and flies off and they see the sea is...rising.

"The sea level, is it rising?" Hiccup asks, completely confused to how that's possible and they fly back to the Edge.

"There's a giant wave headed for us." Hiccup tells the group. "The Rumblehorn knew it and was trying to get us to leave. He was trying to save us. That's why he was chasing Gobber."

"I'm not buying it." Tuffnut tells them. "Okay, guys, real quick- -how long does it take to learn to swim?" He asks.

"No one has to swim." Hiccup states. "We just has to block the wave from hitting the Edge." He tells the, the plan.

"Isn't it a little late for that?" Snotlout asks.

"No. Gobber s' rock wall, that's big enough to stop the wave." Heather says, coming up with a plan. "We just need to reinforce it."

The team quickly gets to work and moves all the biggest boulders they can find as fast as they can as the wave approaches.

"The walls not going to be high enough to stop that wave!" Fishlegs says.

"And it's cracking!" Astrid tells them.

"Night, you handle the cracks, I've got an idea." Stoick says from ontop the Rumblehorn.

"You heard The man." Hiccup says and the team gets to work on filling the holes in as Stoick and the Rumblehorn fly at one of the large boulders and hits it right as soon as the wave hits and the wall holds as the wave drops.

-

The next day, they're cleaning up the mess that was left as Stoick and Gobber are ready to head back to Berk.

"Gobber, I sure am glad you're back to normal." Hiccup says to the man on the boat.

"Yeah, not sure what all went on, but I. Sore in places I didn't know I had." Gobber says.

"Well, I'm glad I let Astrid insist I come here." Stoick says.

"You know, from what I heard from the others, I though you just might've been missing your son. But it seems I was wrong." Hiccup tells his dad.

"Well, me and my son, he has his own life. But this guy, were a lot alike, he and I. We're both protectors, were both leaders." Stoick says.

"And you're both hardheaded." Gobber comments while sailing away.

"Hardheaded, you say?" Stoick asks while mounting the Rumblehorn. "Skull crushing's more like it. Wait, that's what we'll call you. Skull Crusher." He tells the dragon and Hiccup goes to leave.

"And by the way, son? I do miss you." Stoick says and Hiccup stops in his tracks and turns to look at him a]while removing his mask.

"Should've known you'd put it together yourself." Hiccup replies to him.

"You've never been good at hiding anything from me, but you've been getting better." Stoick informs him. "I'm happy you found your own destiny out here."

"I did. And I'm happy here." Hiccup tells his father as he takes off to the sky back to Berk.

"Okay, guys, we have a lot of work to do. So let's get to it." Hiccup tells them happy he was wrong about his father, and surprised how he seems to have changed at least.


	13. That stings

Hiccup and Heather leads the group up the mountain of a nearby island of the Edge early in the morning despite their annoyance.

"Okay, Hiccup, you dragged us all the way up here." Astrid tells him.

"What is it you have to show us? It better involve food or destruction. Or a combination of the wo." Tuffnut warns him.

"I bet you're all wondering why I brought you here." Hiccup says as he's digging trough Toothless' saddle. "The answer is; to show you my latest invention. Presenting the Dragonfly One." He says showing a glider he created.

He gets nothing but stares from the rest of the group except Heather who smacks her face as Tuffnut just raises his chicken he befriended while on the Edge.

"The chicken is not amused." Tuffnut says as the chicken continues to cluck.

"I thought you gave up on that thing." Heather asks him.

"Yeah, but I've been working on it in my spare time." Hiccup admits to her.

"What is it?" Snotlout asks.

"It's a flight suit." Hiccup dumbs it down for him. "Don't all applaud at once."

"Hiccup, I don't need to remind you that we already have flying dragons. Why would we ever need a flight suit?" Fishlegs asks him.

"Well, what did we were to get separated from our dragons mid-flight? It's happen a dozen times with me and Heather. With this, we can fly solo until we can catch up with them." Hiccup explains while placing the glider on his back.

"When this doesn't work, and it clearly will not, can I have Heather?" Snotlout asks him.

"Oh for Thor's sake." Hiccup moans and even Toothless growls at that as Hiccup walks up to the edge of the cliff.

"What do you plan on doing here?" Astrid asks.

"Jumping. Unless someone has a better idea." Hiccup tells her.

"This should be fun." Heather says wanting to see how this one turns out.

"Relax, would ya? Feel that updraft? That's why I chose this place." Hiccup explains his plan. "It'll pick up my wings and I'll be floating on a bed of air." He promises and when he activates the wings one side of them gets stuck.

"Or crashing on a bed of rock." Snotlout says as Hiccup is trying to fix it and he growls at him.

"Okay, everyone. Dragonfly one, maiden flight." Hiccup says before leaping and he begins falling as Toothless then leaps after him to save him.

"I don't know about you guys, but I was under the impression that a flight suit was supposed to fly." Tuffnut comments.

"Yeah, that looks more like a plummet suit." Ruffnut says as Toothless saves Hiccup and they crash into the water.

-

Later, Hiccup is back and ready to go again.

"Okay, so I made a few tweaks. Now behold some serious flying." Hiccup says before leaping once more and is able to stay in the air for a second before once again plummeting.

Toothless then once again leaps after his rider to save him.

But Hiccup keeps on trying.

"This time, I absolutely know where I went wrong. It's all in the timing. I judged the updraft wrong. I assure you, I definitely have it now." Hiccup promises as Toothless looks at his rider, getting sick of rescuing him.

"Don't worry, bud. I've got this under control." Hiccup promises his dragon and waits a minute for the updraft before leaping this time and before he could hit the ground, his suit begins to glide across the ground.

"I'm flying? I'm flying!" Hiccup acknowledges and cheers at his achievement.

"I cannot believe that hunk of junk actually worked." Snotlout comments.

Hiccup then tries steering but there is once again a problem.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to work on the steering a bit." Hiccup now realizes. "Toothless!" He calls out to his dragon who tries his best to make it to him and saves him before he could hit the rock wall.

"Thanks for the save, bud." Hiccup tells his dragon as they get out of the water, only for Toothless to spit water out at his rider for being so stupid. "Again. It looks like our flight tests are probably done for the day." He says as he sees his wings are broken when Heather and the others approach them.

"Okay, you're done with this." Heather informs Hiccup.

"Right. For now." Hiccup agrees when they hear a screech from on the island.

"What was that?" Astrid asks as they all look around.

"Sounded like a dragon in distress." Fishlegs says.

"Guys? Something about that call seems strangely familiar." Snotlout says whole freaking out. "Not a good familiar, a bad familiar." He says as everyone takes of to find it.

They fly ahead and look to find a baby Speed Stinger.

"Speed Stinger. Why'd it have to be a Speed Stinger?" Snotlout asks. A few years back, he and the teenagers had a run in with these guys and he was constantly stung.

"Looks like a young one." Hiccup tells them. "Why would it be out during the day? They're nocturnal." He remembers.

"Ah, poor little guy. Let's head home!" Snotlout says. "It's starting to get dark, and where there's one, they're usually a whole pack!" He reminds them.

Heather watches as he tries to walk only to drop to the ground.

"Hiccup, it's injured, and they can't fly." Heather informs him.

"Which is exactly why we can't leave it to predators." Hiccup tells her. "Come on, Toothless." He tells his dragon and they fly down to the Speed Stinger.

"Is he seriously going back?" Snotlout asks.

"Snotlout, meet Hiccup. Not the scared, defenseless kid you once knew. He's obviously going back." Heather informs him.

"Aw, come on!" Snotlout complains as they all follow him.

Hiccup is the first to approach the dragon and he screeches as he tries approaching.

"Hey, easy there. Easy, little fella." Hiccup tries calming him down when he shows them it's stinger.

"Hiccup, It looks like it can defend itself just fine. Let's get out of here." Snotlout says while hiding on Hookfang.

"Quiet, Snotlout." Heather tells him, knowing Hiccup knows what he's doing.

"Unfortunately, this little guy won't be a match for wild boars or dragons." Hiccup informs them. "A Speed Stinger without its pack is extremely vulnerable."

"He must've gotten separated from the others, they had to go to shelter before the sun came out." Fishlegs says.

"That right. Let's go." Snotlout replies to that.

"Snotlout, we can't leave him like this. Well being it back to Dragons Edge, we have a hut where we can nurse him back to help. Then we'll bring it back here." Hiccup says, but the only problem now is getting close to it. And he has the perfect distraction.

"Ruff? Tuff? You understand the plan?" Hiccup asks them.

"Yeah." "Definitely." They both reply.

"No." They then say honestly.

"All right. You secure the Stinger so I can get to the splint with these broken pieces of Dragonfly one." Hiccup explains to them. "And be careful! Their stings paralyze their victims." He warns them.

"You don't need to remind me. I know what they can do." Snotlout informs him. "This plan is insane. You know that, right? If I'm saying it's insane, it's actually insane."

"Actually, it is insane." Tuffnut agrees. "And for once, it wasn't our plan."

"I'm seeing a pattern here!" Says Ruffnut agreeing with her twin.

"First that lunatic flight suit, now this." Tuffnut says. "Could it be?"

"Is Hiccup coming over to our side?" Ruffnut asks.

"Oh, Loki, please let it be so! We will welcome him with open arms. Teach him the ways of the truly disturbed!" Tuffnut prays and promises.

"Guys, please. Let's just do this." Hiccup begs as they start chuckling before approaching the Stinger.

The Stinger starts trying to attack them and they give it two targets.

"Guys, what are you doing? I meant secure the tail!" Hiccup tells them.

"Hey, we know what we're doing!" Ruffnut informs him when the Stinger gets her in the arm. "Whoa, whoa, What's happening to me? I can't..."

"Talk? She can't talk!" Tuffnut finishes and starts messing with Ruffnut's mouth as she's frozen. "At least that's what I think that's what she's saying." He says as Ruffnut begins waking with her upper half frozen.

"Interesting. Only part of her is paralyzed." Fishlegs interprets seeing her. "Since it's an adolescent, it's sting potency must not be at full effect."

"How do we get it to sting her lower half?" Tuffnut asks and gets an idea. "Here, Speedy. Come on. It's the whole lower half of Ruffnut. Don't you want it?" He asks as the Stinger tries walking and falls.

Tuffnut takes the advantage and it and leaps on top when it starts using its stinger.

"Someone help Tuff." Hiccup asks when Heather runs in and holds the Stinger down.

"I got it." Heather concourse.

"I've got the head." Fishlegs says and Hiccup runs in to place the splint on the dragon and they all get off as he starts to walk toward Hiccup.

"Hey, Okay. Okay. We're here to help you." Hiccup promises.

"Here we go again." Heather says knowing where this is going with the hand thing.

Hiccup then holds his hand out and looks away as the Stinger sniffs it before places it's snout agianst it.

"Okay, everyone, I think we're good." Hiccup tells them. "Let's load him up and bring him to Dragons Edge."

"You know the pack is going to do everything in its power to find it, don't you?" Astrid reminds them.

"Yep." Hiccup acknowledges. "That's why we have to get him on his feet and back, to this island as quickly as we can." He says and they take the Speed Stinger back to Dragons Edge.

-

They made it to the Edge where Hiccup and Heather worked for days on and gave the Stinger a actual splint so he can walk easier and helping gain his trust to help him get him back in his feet fast.

And knowing about all of the different type of dragons, they have armor on them that keeps their skin safe from stingers, especially his.

"He seems to be improving fast." Heather says seeing the Stinger run around the room.

"Well, they can only function in a group. But if they accept you then you have their allegiance." Hiccup says seeing that they have a shot of actually training it.

The door suddenly opens and Snotlout steps in and sees the Stinger.

"Well, well, lookie here. Our little friend can stand on his own again." Snotlout states. "Only a matter of time before its trying to sting us into oblivion."

The Stinger looks to Snotlout and screeches at him.

"My vote is take it to where we found it. I'll get the cage." Snotlout tells them.

"Snotlout! What did we talk about?" Hiccup asks of him. "This is our home, our say goes. He's staying here. At least for the time being." He informs Snotlout.

"Having a Speed Stinger around is too dangerous, especially for me." Snotlout says as the Speed Stinger runs in to attack him and Snotlout avoids his attacks as Ruffnut comes running in.

"Good news! The Stinger venom wore..." She was on the middle of saying when the Stinger gets her again.

"Okay, everyone. No sudden movements." Hiccup warns them.

"Oh, look who's gotten good at his jokes over the years." Ruffnut says as she starts trying to lift herself off the ground. "Frozen from the waist down, come on,"

Hiccup then starts trying to calm down the Stinger, ignoring her. "Hey, fella down, big fella. I'm your friend, remember?" He asks the Stinger starts speeding around the group.

"Take cover!" Heather warns them since they don't have the armor like they do.

The Stinger runs and stings Barf and Belck, incapacitating Barf and his head hits the floor.

"Windshear, Toothless, cage him." Hiccup tells the dragons and they understand what he means and Windshear uses her spikes to keep the Stinger from constantly running and into the direction of the cage and Toothless shoots it shut.

They bring the group to the main hall of the Edge to get them away from the Stinger as Barf is releasing his gas as he can't control it. Hiccup and Heather on the other hand weren't affected at all since they've been prepared and ready for a situation like this.

"Exactly as I thought this would end up." Snotlout reminds them all. "That thing is going to paralyze everyone on the island before this is over. And there's going to be no one to take that stupid dragon back to where we found it."

"All right, I'm too tired to argue with you, Snotlout." Hiccup states, seriously tired of his complaining about the dragon. "We'll talk about this in the morning." He promises as he leaves to get a bit more work into the Stinger.

What they didn't know is that Ruffnut agrees with Snotlout and they begin to work out a plan to get rid of it.

-

As Hiccup was on his way to the Stinger, Heather was already in the process on taking off his splint.

The Stinger starts making happy noises and looks to the two who nursed him back to health before he starts speeding around.

"I guess someone got a lot of energy built up." Heather states while chuckling as the Stinger runs around her and Hiccup.

They watch as he runs but then sees he's heading for the pond.

"No, wait!" They both shout, knowing that they can't swim.

But what they see shocks them as the Speed Stinger begins to run on the pond in circles before leaping off the water.

"How did he do that?" Hiccup questions as he walks over and they see his toes.

"How did we miss that? You have webbing." Heather says taking a close look at his legs.

"Of course, it makes sense. Since they can't fly, they need a different way to hop from island to island." Hiccup puts together. "They've adapted, evolved. This is...incredible!"

"Looks like you got him excited." Heather informs the Stinger who doesn't understand and just chirps at the two happily.

Unknown to them, the Speed Stinger pack has made it off their island and they're coming for their young member.

-

The next morning, Hiccup and Heather were on their way to the sleeping Speed Stinger to see if they could learn anything else about it's webbed feet.

"This is enormous. Finally, we have actual proof of dragon evolution." Hiccup informs Heather as he's just seriously excited.

"I know. You wouldn't stop saying that all of last night." Heather reminds him, loving how excited he is.

"Well, it actually inspired me to make a few changes to a certain invention of mine last night." Hiccup informs her.

"Dragonfly two?" Heather asks, knowing him too well and opens the door.

"You could always see right through me." Hiccup replies and they look to see the Speed Stinger is gone.

"What?! How did he get out?" Heather questions and runs to the cage to see if he cut himself out.

"He couldn't have. But I have a pretty good idea who helped him." Hiccup says and Heather also knows as well.

-

Snotlout and Ruffnut are flying aboard Hookfang with the sleeping Speed Stinger as they're going faster as it's almost sundown.

But that plan doesn't work as the Stinger wakes up and paralyzed their dragon, sending them crashing into the ground.

Snotlout and Hookfang get back up as the Stinger approaches him and that's when the others arrived.

"Hey, Hiccup. I got stung again." Ruffnut informs Hiccup. "Just the right side this time, I tried to walk it off but I just keep going around in circles." She says while walking in circles.

Hiccup just ignored her and pays attention to Snotlout.

"Dragon-napping, Snotlout? This is a new low, even for you." Hiccup informs him.

"I was trying to save us!" Snotlout defends as they suddenly hear screeching coming from the forest.

"You guys heard that, right?" Astrid asks.

"Was that an echo? Please tell me that was an echo." Fishlegs begs when they hear it even louder.

"It's the pack. They' looking for him." Heather says.

"How is that possible? Speed Stingers can't fly!" Snotlout states.

"True, but we did just discover that this group of Stingers can travel across the water." Hiccup informs him. "Look, If we keep quiet, we might not give away our location to them."

They then hear their Stinger screeching back, calling his pack.

"This just went from bad to worse." Heather tells them.

"I'm guessing that very soon I'm gonna wish I could run in a straight line." Ruffnut takes a wild guess as the Stinger's surround them.

"You! I knew you'd rat us out." Snotlout tells the Stinger and they see a new Stinger approach who isn't just green, but also has red on him.

"I'm guessing we found the alpha Stinger." Heather says and they all charge at the Riders.

"Guys! Stand your ground!" Hiccup warns them as the Stingers circle the riders as Hookfang and Ruffnut keep walking in circles.

Meatlug goes in to save them, but ends up getting paralyzed.

"There's just too many of them. Our only hole is to deal them away." Hiccup says when Snotlout grabs the young Stinger and runs off.

"Come and get me, needle butts." Snotlout dares them.

"What is he doing?" Heather questions.

"I have no idea." Hiccup admits, never seeing Snotlout actually doing something heroic before.

-

Snotlout keeps on running through the forest before stopping and sees they're gone.

"They're gone?" Snotlout questions when he hears a stick crack behind him. "And that's because they're here for the big ambush." He realizes when the baby Speed Stinger speeds in and stings the members of the pack, protecting Snotlout.

But then the alpha Stinger is here and the baby challenges him.

"What's happening?" Snotlout questions.

"He's torn between his pack and the one that saved his life." Hiccup explains while he's on Toothless' back in the air. "Ours."

"But he hates me." Snotlout reminds him.

"But you're one of us. It's his instinct to protect you." Hiccup explains before having Toothless send a blast to the alpha. "Now get out of there before he realizes he has to choose a side." He warns Snotlout before focusing on sending the Stingers away.

One of them start leaving the group when Windshear shoots spikes at it and it turns back.

"I brought backup." Heather tells him as Ruff and Tuff come flying in on their half conscious dragon and creates a firewall.

"Nice, Barf. I mean, freaky, but nice just the same." Tuffnut tells his sisters dragon's head. But what he didn't see was the alpha approaching him from the rock structure behind him.

"Barf and Belch are down. We need to get rid of that alpha." Hiccup tells them and comes up with an idea.

He starts flying towards the alpha and the alpha Stinger charges at them and leaps into the air to strike.

"Toothless, separate!" Hiccup calls and the two move as the Stinger goes in between them and Hiccup uses his new wings to glide down as Toothless watches him.

The Stinger falls to the ground, and hurts itself on the way down.

"Excellent!" Hiccup cheers, seeing it actually worked.

Seeing he's outmatched, the alpha Stinger leads the pack away from the island.

"Yeah! Swim away Stingers!" Snotlout says as the baby Stinger watches them leave.

Hiccup walks up to him, and knows what he has to do as the Stinger looks to him.

"I'm sorry, little guy. But you need to go back with your own." Hiccup tells him and the Stinger chirps happily before running after them.

"What are you doing? We can't let him go back." Snotlout tells him.

"Snotlout, this is what we do. He's back where he belongs, his real pack." Hiccup explains to him.

"And just when we were starting to get along. Why does this always happen?" Snotlout questions while walking away.

"I see at least one good thing came from this." Heather says while raising Hiccup's arm to look at the wings. "I can see that these could be useful in the future."

"I'm glad you think so." Hiccup replies.

"Just don't start making me a pair. I'll gladly stay with my dragon." Heather warns him and he chuckles.


	14. Dragon Hunters

Heather and Windshear were up earlier than everyone and decided to go for a morning flight when they start hearing dragons in distress. Following the cries, they find that their beaches are filled with Vikings, but she doesn't know exactly who.

"I've never seen those colors before. But we have seen that insignia before, haven't we, girl?" Heather asks her dragon who snarled at them. "Yeah, Dragon Hunters, I'm not a fan either. Let's get a closer look." She says and Windshear flies off and they see they've caged several different types of dragons.

"Quiet down, you useless lizard." One of the Hunters tell a Nightmare that's when someone much bigger comes in and slams his head against the cage.

"Just load 'me up." The bigger man warns the smaller man.

"Yes, Ryker. Sorry, Ryker." He apologized and Heather thinks he must be the man in charge.

"Look at him. Powerful. Perfect. Remember, they're smarter than you." Ryker informs him and the Nightmare goes to bite his head when Ryker throws his man before he could get bit. "But not me."

Ryker then starts sniffing the air and looks to the rock formation that Windshear and Heather are hiding.

Heather stays behind the formation, there's no way he could smell her dragon.

"And grab that Razorwhip!" Ryker tells his men. Well, there goes that theory.

As the men come charging at them, Heather takes to the sky and flies off to the Edge to get help.

But not before taking a arrow to the leg as the archers were shooting at her, but Windshear's skin seem to be protected from the arrows luckily.

Heather is not so lucky as she starts to feel hazy and off. That's when the whole world goes black.

-

Hiccup and Toothless look out as the sun is starting to set and there is still no sign of Heather or Windshear and they're starting to get worried for the two of them.

"Maybe they went exploring and lost track of time." Fishlegs offers as a solution.

"She's never been gone all day like this. Not without telling me at least." Hiccup explains to him. Over the two years, never has this happened before. They always warned the other if they were going to be gone to the point of worry. "Somethings wrong, I can feel it." He says and looks out pass their island.

"And I'm gonna find her." Hiccup promises and hops on Toothless before flying off.

-

The two of them fly off and keep looking as Toothless uses his sonar to find them and they can't find them anywhere.

"She's got to be out here somewhere." Hiccup states, but this is getting seriously bad.

Toothless then starts smelling something and the familiar screeches on a nearby island and starts flying in that direction.

"Whoa, you got something?" Hiccup asks as they approach a nearby island where Windshear is and hiccup looks and sees Heather with an arrow next to her leg.

"Heather!" Hiccup shouts as Toothless lands and he races over to her as Toothless runs to Windshear to check on her.

"What...What took you so long?" Heather asks him before passing out.

Hiccup is happy to see she's okay, but also wonders how she got all the way out here.

-

Heather taker wakes up and sees she's back in her hut and sees Hiccup is with her and her leg has been bandaged up.

"Hey, it's okay. Just try to relax. You've had a tough night." Hiccup tells her. "What happened?"

"Dragon Hunters. I saw them, Hiccup. The dragons were all in cages." Heather tells him.

"Dragon Hunters?" Hiccup asks.

"A whole fleet of 'em. They were after me, and I took an arrow to the leg." Heather tells him. "And then there's this big, ugly one. When I get my hands on him..."

"She's okay." Hiccup assures Toothless.

"Come on. We have to save them." Heather says as she runs off to get Windshear.

-

Them and everyone else make it to the beach and find everything they left but it isn't a lot to go off of.

"Nothing but a bunch of trash." Tuffnut tells them.

"Looks like these Dragon Hunters are also litter bugs." Ruffnut adds on.

"There should be a fine for that. I mean, am I wrong, people? I mean, what if everyone were this careless and inconsistent? What then? Where would we be then?" Tuffnut asks.

"Here, but he'd be less crazy." Hiccup replies to that.

"I knew coming here was a bad idea." Snotlout says as he looks through an empty chest. "What did we hope to find anyway?" He asks when something stabs his foot and he screams in pain.

Astrid walks over to him and looks at what he stepped on.

"Oh, look at you. Rushed right over to help, didn't you?" Snotlout asks her. "You know what that means, Astrid."

Astrid ignores him and picks it out of his foot.

"That looks like the arrow I found with you." Hiccup tells Heather.

"They were shooting Windshear with them, but they just bounced off of her, thanks to her armored skin." Heather says and looks to her injured leg.

Fishlegs looks at it before smelling it and tasting it.

"If I had to make a guess, it's some sorts refined dragon root." Fishlegs tells them. "I've heard that at high concentrations, it can overwhelm a dragon's senses completely, making it almost impossible for them to fly."

"It's a good thing you were riding Windshear." Hiccup tells her.

"Think about it. Just one quiver if these arrows could decimate an entire flock of dragons." Fishlegs tells them and Hiccup takes the arrowhead.

"Then that steels it, we need to find a way to stop them. And I think we all know the first place to look." Hiccup tells them.

-

They go to the Reaper, where the teens first found the Dragon Eye and where the Hunters must've gotten their gear.

"All right, look for anything that can help us track the Dragon Hunters. Maps. Coordinates. Hidden compartments." Hiccup tells them.

The twins were looking and all they find are bones and empty boxes.

"There's nothing here. Someone totally looted this boat." Tuffnut states.

"This ship gives me the creeps." Ruffnut replies.

"Sunken ships, Dragon Hunters, the creeps. I bet this thing is crawling with ghosts, and other such spirits planning on dragging us down to the dark Viking underworld where they will torture us by tickling us for eternity!" Tuffnut says while using his sister as a shield.

"Niflheim?" Ruffnut asks her twin.

"Gesundheit." Tuffnut replies.

"Niflheim? I knew coming here was a bad idea." Snotlout states as he as well starts getting afraid. "What did we hope to find anyway?" Snotlout asks as he kicks the helm, breaking the floor beneath him. "Get me out of here!" He calls out and they look to see him stick with a bunch of boxes and barrels.

"What If that's what the ghost want us to do?" Tuffnut asks him.

"Tuffnut!" Snotlout cries out in anger.

Inside the ship, Hiccup and Heather are looking around for anything to help as Heather describes Ryker to him.

"You just didn't see him. He actually enjoys hunting and caging dragons." Heather says as Toothless starts sniffing a shield on the wall.

"What you got, bud?" Hiccup asks as they take a closer look and see something. "Heather, do me a favor, hitnthis shield with your axe." He asks for her and when she did, a Dragon Eye lens comes out.

They brought their discovery to the others, and it seems to be for a different species of dragon than they have.

While they did that, Tuffnut looks at the shield they took the lens from.

"Yep. It's either the inside of a yak, or a Changewing in a cage." Tuffnut says and they take a closer look at it and see he's right.

"Looks like we have to head back to the Edge." Hiccup says, since he and Heather actually rescued and trained one a while back.

-

They return to the Edge and Heather calls the Changewing they named Shade and had him glow some of his acid to light the dragon lens.

Fishlegs gets to work into translating what it says and finds nothing new.

"This doesn't help. We've seen this map before." Fishlegs tells them.

"It must be a hunter port. It's the closest to the beach where Heather was attacked." Hiccup tells him. "Odds are, that's where they're headed. After that, who knows?"

"Then we need to stop them." Heather states, hating the idea of the dragons in cages.

"But how are we going to avoid those dragon root arrows?" Fishlegs asks.

"Funny you should ask, Fishlegs. For the plan to work, someone's gonna have to get shot." Hiccup tells him, since Groncles don't get affected by dragon root, as he's found in his studies.

"Yeah! Looks like we're up!" Tuffnut and Ruffnut say, happy to get shot.

"There is something wrong with those two." Heather tells Hiccup who agrees.

-

Hiccup and Heather come flying in wearing their masks and everything as Ryker sees them.

"A Night Fury?!" Ryker asks, whole happy as can be as the other dragons come in and start having them shoot at them.

Windshear comes flying in and strikes their weapons and while at it, she was able to stop Toothless from getting hit.

"You sure this plan is gonna work?" Heather asks him.

"Fishlegs, you're up." Hiccup says and Fishlegs goes in and spews lava before getting hit.

"They got Fishlegs and Meatlug." Astrid tells them.

"Take 'em below and toss 'em in a cell!" Ryker tells them and drags them away.

Hiccup comes flying back in and blasts behind Ryker, playing his part of the plan out.

"What Drago would give for that Night Fury." Ryker says to himself.

Hiccup goes to turn around when they release a catapult bolder at them and Windshear flies in help, but ends getting hit and Heather falls off.

"No!" Hiccup shouts and flies down to save her when they shoot a grapple and wrap Heather, catching her.

Hiccup tries to get there faster, but all he gets is constant arrows at him.

"Hey! Let me go!" Heather says as she's pulled up aboard deck.

"Oh, feisty one, aren't you?" Ryker asks.

Heather tries fighting back but it doesn't help as she's captured. But Fishlegs got his part done and released the dragons from their cells.

Except Ryker was prepared for that as a hundred arrows comes flying in to take them down as the twins are taken down, and Hookfang gets hit.

Heather was able to get away from the men and Windshear glided across the boat for her to get away.

Hiccup sees she escaped and knows they need to get a better plan to safe them.

-

On the boat, Ryker throws them into a cell and Dagur appears.

"Surprise! Did you miss me? Of course you did!" Dagur says as the doors to the cage are closed on them. "Enjoy your new home. You'll be with us until Hiccup and my sister returns. And we know they will." He states and leaves them.

-

Hiccup and Toothless carried Hookfang to a nearby island where Heather met up with them and they spend the night working on a plan to save their friends as Toothless returns with fish he caught for them.

"Great! I'm starving." Snotlout says when Hookfang eats all the fish Toothless left for them.

"It looks like somebody's feeling better." Heather says, seeing the dragon is okay.

"What are you two doing?" Snotlout asks them.

"Trying to figure out where the Dragon Hunter's are headed." Hiccup tells him.

"That's a bad idea. Even if we find them, they have those one-shot-and-you-drop poison arrows. What do we do then?" Snotlout asks.

"Well, I have no idea." Hiccup admits.

"I gotta be honest. That's not the answer I was hoping for." Snotlout says. "Okay, the day has come. It's up to Snotfang to come up with a plan." He says before he starts beating himself with a fish. "Help squeeze some brilliance from that beautiful skull."

"I've got an idea." Hiccup says, and Snotlout actually helped.

"I would've come up with something. I was so close." Snotlout complains.

"Come on, Snotlout. We're going to call in a favor from a friend." Hiccup says before he takes off and Heather sees he's heading north.

But why would he be heading...oh.

Heather gets on her dragon and takes to the air as she knows where he's headed.

-

Back on the Dragon Hunters ship, Astrid is returned to the cell after being questioned.

"Astrid, are you okay?" Fishlegs asks.

"Just tired. They questioned me all night. Wouldn't let me sleep." Astrid tells him. "Dagur and Ryker. Well, it was mostly Dagur as Ryker didn't say much and just...stared."

"Yeah, but you hung tough." Ruffnut says from the floor. "You didn't crack. You never talked. Way to go, Astrid."

"Actually, I did talk." Astrid admits to her. "I told Ryker what he wanted to know. The location of the Dragon Eye."

"They're after the Dragon Eye?" Fishlegs questions.

"It's very important to the Dragon Hunters for some reason. They've been looking for it for a while." Astrid explains to them.

"And where did you tell them it was, Lieutenant loose lips?" Ruffnut asks.

"Back at Dragon's Edge, being protected by the dragon army and other riders we left behind." Astrid tells them the lie she made up.

"What?" Tuffnut questions, not understanding at all. "No ones-"

"Supposed to know about it. I know." Astrid says, still lying for the guards. "Only thing I could think of to keep them from going in and taking over Dragon's Edge."

"And they bought it?" Ruffnut asks.

"For now. But eventually, Ryker will send someone to check it out." Astrid tells them.

"You bought us time." Fishlegs realizes.

"Exactly. We need to get out before they find out I was bluffing. Any ideas?" Astrid asks.

"Way ahead of you. I have the perfect plan." Tuffnut says while holding a mug. "We tunnel out." He stays and starts picking at the floor.

"Through the boat?" Astrid asks.

"Into the middle of the sea?" Fishlegs asks him.

"Exactly. They will never see it coming. Even I won't! Especially because I don't know how to swim. Mental note, learn to swim. By tomorrow, or mid next week." Tuffnut says to himself, not seeing the flaw in his plan.

-

Hiccup, Heather and Snotlout are still flying out north passing several islands along the way.

"Is that the island were going to?" Snotlout asks.

"No." Heather tells him.

"How about that one?" He asks looking to a different island.

"Also no." Hiccup says as Snotlout sees a new island coming into the horizon.

"How about that one?" Snotlout asks.

"For the last time...oh, yeah. That's exactly the one. My bad." Hiccup says and they speed off forwards it.

The island in question has a familiar town known as Arendelle where this time last year, they once helped two sisters reunite.

Now they need to ask for their help.

-

On the island, Elsa was just looking out of her balcony when Kai walks up to her.

"Your magisty?" Kia calls out for Elsa, scaring her and causing her to freeze her hands to the balcony.

"Yes?" Elsa asks while getting her hands free.

"There are sightings on dragons approaching Arendelle." He explains and Elsa looks and sees a familiar black dot and shiny skinned dragon and she starts leaving to meet up with them when she starts hearing something.

"Aaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaa." Some voice sings and Elsa seems to be the only one who heard it.

"Did you hear that?" Elsa asks, looking back to where she heard it.

"Hear what?" Kia asks.

"Nothing." Elsa says and goes to see her friends.

-

Hiccup and Heather land and are met by a over energetic Anna and a eternally cold Olaf.

"Hiccup! Heather!" Anna cheers before drawing Heather into a hug and moves to Hiccup.

"It's been a while, Anna." Hiccup says while hugging her back when they break apart and a certain other joins them.

"Who's this?" Anna asks.

"Don't get me started." Heather warns her as Snotlout gets off his dragon.

"Don't tell me we didn't travel all this way so you guys could drop in on some friends?" Snotlout asks.

Meanwhile, Olaf sneaks behind Snotlout. "Hi, I'm Olaf." He greets as Snotlout freaks out on the site of the living snowman.

"How is this happening?! What is that?!" Snotlout asks.

"Hey there, Olaf." Hiccup greets his carrot nosed friend.

"Hey, do you guys know where we can find Elsa?" Heather asks the two of them when the familiar snow queen approaches them.

"Welcome back to Arendelle, guys." Elsa greets them as she approaches them. "But why do I feel this isn't a friendly drop in?" She questions.

"Because, sadly, it's not." Hiccup admits. "Look, we have some friends who need our help to escape a group of Dragon Hunters, and we need help as they have arrows that can hurt our dragons." He explains the situation.

"Oh, come on. What can she possibly do that can help us fight dragon hunters?" Snotlout asks.

Everyone just raises an eyebrow since he obviously doesn't know.

"Show him." Heather tells Elsa.

Elsa quickly waves her hand and sends a blast of ice at Snotlout, freezing him in a block of ice.

"Okay, I can see how that can be useful." Snotlout admits as Elsa let's him go.

"How can I help?" Elsa asks Hiccup.

"All right, I think I know where they're headed. We just need to get their first." Hiccup says.

-

On the boat, Ryker has put the riders to work so they don't plan any escapes when they spot the three dragons approaching.

"It's Hiccup, my sister, and snot-hat." Dagur tells Ryker.

"Standby catapults. Archers at the ready." Ryker tells his men and they do as they're told. "Wait until they're in range."

In the sky, Elsa is on Toothless with Hiccup as she understands what she needs to do for her part.

The first part was freezing the dragons' weak spots with enough ice to shield their skin, but not enough so they can't fly.

"Hiccup, as far as worst plans go, this has to be by the best worst plan ever." Snotlout informs him.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Hiccup guessed.

They all fly in with Elsa ready to jump.

"Oh, look at...he's coming straight in. Suicide run. I didn't think he had it in him." Dagur says seeing him coming.

"The fool." Ryker agrees when the archers fire but all they do is hit the ice.

As they glide along the boat, Elsa leaps off and is faced with archers.

Dagur looked through a spyglass and sees that their dragons are encoded with ice when he notices Elsa on the deck.

"Whos this?" Dagur questions.

Elsa doesn't answer and hits her foot against the boat, and starts freezing the deck of the entire ship, causing the archers to slip and their catapults to freeze over as well.

Tuffnut sees this as an opportunity and smacks one of the men overboard.

"I hate...cleaning." Tuffnut states.

As more men come up from the lower decks, Elsa blasts them with more mist getting them stuck to the wall.

"Go get your dragons, I'll hold them back." Elsa tells the riders who are confused but take it.

Astrid and Tuffnut run below deck and Elsa follows as she sees the upboard deck is cleared.

As they make their way down, they find Fishlegs and Meatlug, Ruffnut and Barf/Belch along with Stormfly.

Above, Hiccup, Snotlout and Windshear take out the support ships surrounding the main ship.

"Men, concentrate all fire on the Night Fury!" Ryker tells the men as it seems the ice is leaving some areas of Toothless exposed.

Luckily, Windshear and Heather took down their weapons and flew off.

Ryker just grabs the bow and arrow while aiming at Toothless when he gets hit by a ice blast, sending him flying.

He gets up and sees Elsa standing there with her arm stretched out before getting picked up by Heather as the other dragon riders make it to safety and fly off with their dragons.

Ryker gets up as Dagur approaches him.

"I may have underestimated these dragon riders. They seem to have some powerful allies." Ryker tells Dagur.

"Yeah, even I didn't see the ice girl coming." Dagur admits, never meeting Elsa before.

-

As they fly back to Arendelle to drop Elsa back off, Hiccup is confused to what he saw.

"Did I see Dagur on that ship?" Hiccup asks.

"Yeah, he's working with those hunters, and they're after the Dragon Eye." Astrid tells him.

"Well, this is good." Heather complains.

"Thanks for the help, Elsa." Hiccup thanks their friend.

"Hey, were friends. What are friends for?" Elsa asks him.

"Aren't you gonna introduce us?" Fishlegs asks Hiccup.

"Sorry. Guys, this is queen Elsa of Arendelle. Elsa, the gang." Hiccup introduces them.

"Hey there." Elsa greets.

"Well, we've gotta get back to the Edge, find a way of protecting the Dragon Eye. But before that, we need to drop our snow queen back home." Heather says and they fly off towards Arendelle once more.


	15. The Zippleback experience

The team has started to begin do what they can to make sure that the Edge is secure from the Dragon Hunters.

The dragons were usually all they needed over the past few years, but they know they won't be able to help as much with those dragon root arrows they carry.

"We've been seeing ships off the northern coast that have absolutely no reason to be there." Hiccup explains why they're here. "With this, we can send an early warning signal if they come into our waters."

"If you're talking about Dagur and Ryker, which I'm assuming you are." Snotlout says.

"Actually, I wasn't." Hiccup tells him.

"How about this? Whoever's out there that shouldn't be out there, let's just get on these very effective fire-breathing war machines, and go out and blast them into oblivion." Snotlout finishes.

"Because that's not who we are, Snotlout. This island is ours and we defend ourselves. We don't strike unless threatened." Heather informs him.

"Don't worry, Hookster. She doesn't speak for us." Snotlout says as they hear cheering and see Ruff and Tuff sliding down the snow mountain and using their dragons blasts, causing the snow to fall with them. "Or them for that matter."

"Those two muttonheads better not bring all that snow up there down on us." Astrid warns them.

"It's not the snow I'm worried about." Hiccup says as they see the twins started a avalanche with ice falling down in them.

Seeing they're in trouble, they fly off to rescue them.

Fishlegs and Astrid rescued the twins as Hiccup rescued their dragon.

They all come back as Barf and Belch start licking Hiccup for rescuing them.

"Okay, I get it. You're welcome." Hiccup says and starts getting off of Toothless and Heather sees his leg is damaged.

"Hiccup, I wouldn't do that if I were..." Heather was saying, but was too late as Hiccup slips.

Barf and Belch help hiccup stand again and raises him into the air.

"Uh, can you put me down now, guys?" Hiccup asks of them and they drop him against Toothless. "And it's for moments like these that I always carry a spare." He states and pulls it out of Toothless' saddle and replaces it.

"So, if that's all you need from us, then we'll just be going back to..." Tuffnut was saying while he and Ruffnut start walking away.

"Windshear." Heather calls her dragon and she shoots spikes in front of the twins.

"Hey, your dragon just shot at us." Ruffnut tells her.

"I know she did, because I told her to." Heather says.

"Not cool, W. Not cool at all." Tuffnut tells the Razorwhip.

"Anyway, since you two seem so eager to spend some time away from the group, you get to pull the first two shifts of patrol duty." Hiccup tells them.

"He's really become a tyrant ever since we've found him." Ruffnut says to her brother.

"Power will do that to you." Tuffnut concourse as everyone flies off, leaving the twins.

-

They make it to the Edge where Hiccup goes to his hut followed by Heather.

"This leg needs to be filed down, it's pinching me." Hiccup tells Heather who chuckles at that as he opens the door to his hut, where they're met with a pile of fish falling on the two of them.

"Oh, for the love of Thor! Who did this?" Hiccup questions.

"Why are you even asking?" Heather wonders and Hiccup realizes he shouldn't be asking.

"Ruff! Tuff! Oh, I got another shift with your names on it." Hiccup warns them as their dragons start eating the fish.

"Really? You're eating the evidence?" Heather asks them.

-

Later they're back in the air and are searching for twins.

"Where are they? Hiccup asks.

"Well, shouldn't be too hard to find them. Just look for a fire or any other catastrophe, they can't be too far away." Heather says as they keep flying before Barf and Belch comes flying and takes Hiccup off of Toothless.

This causes the dragon to fall since he can't fly on his own.

"Toothless!" Heather and Hiccup call out as Heather leaps off of Windshear and gets onto Toothless' back and uses her knowledge on how to fly Toothless and was able to get him to the ground safely as Hiccup is dropped by the Zippleback and Windshear catches him by the foot.

"You guys okay?" Hiccup asks as Windshear brings him to the ground and sees Windshear accidentally bent his leg.

"We should be asking you that." Heather says and reaches into the saddle for another one of his legs where she sees that it's his last.

Hiccup places it on when Barf and Belch return and drop fish in front of the two of them.

"It was you guys?" Heather asks.

"You left me all that fish?" Hiccup questions.

"Wait, if they're here and the twins are nowhere to be found, then who's patrolling the island?" Heather questions and sees they're in trouble.

-

Ruffnut and Tuffnut are at the Edge, searching for their dragon as they can't seem to find it anywhere.

"This is all your fault." Ruffnut blures out.

"My fault?" Tuffnut questions.

"It's your attitude, bro. It's always been your attitude. And it finally drove our beloved dragon away!" Ruffnut tells him.

"My attitude my attitude is fun, carefree, adventurous, and loves long walks. And it doesn't matter if it's in a beach or not." Tuffnut says, getting off track.

As they keep arguing, Hiccup and Heather return with their dragon.

"Where did you two go? You had us worried sick." Ruffnut says as they reach their dragons.

"Where'd they go?" Hiccup questions. "Well, let's start with they filled our hut with fish, almost crashed me and Toothless out of the sky. And for their finale, they broke my second spare...leg!" He informs the two of them.

"So, if my calculations are correct, and they usually are..." Ruffnut says.

"That would mean that our dear Hiccup is on his..." Tuffnut continues.

"Last leg!" The Twins say at once and laugh.

"Get it? See what we did? It's because your leg. You don't have any more." Tuffnut explains .

"Listen, the four of you belong together. Now, please, can you get back on patrol and try to keep these two...just go." Hiccup says and leads the Zippleback over to them and climbs back on to Toothless. "Last leg." He munbles and the dragons seem to chuckle at the joke.

"Come on, you guys are above than that." Heather reminds them as they take off.

It didn't take them long until they realized they're following Hiccup.

"Okay, let's lose this guy." Hiccup tells Toothless.

The three fly around the island, constantly but always seem to manage to find each other as the two won't leave Hiccup alone.

-

That night, Hiccup and Heather look at the end of their bed to see Barf and Belch staring at the two of them.

"I'm gonna start dreaming about Zipplebacks." Heather states as she gets into bed.

"I think I'm starting to see them in my sleep." Hiccup says as he joins her in bed.

Toothless and Windshear get to bed as Toothless circles his rock and starts doing his bed routine before laying down with Windshear.

Barf and Belch see this and decided to do it themselves, causing the entire hut to shake.

"What, what?" Hiccup asks as the two are thrown out of bed to see them about to spark the gas.

"Don't!" They both shout when they blow up the entire inside of the hut.

Heather and Hiccup make it outside where they're met with the Zippleback again.

-

Needing the help, they brought Gobber in so he could fix all of Hiccup's legs as they're all damaged.

"So, you ruined all your legs, eh? Every single one?" Gobber asks him.

"All except for my original leg I just kept around." Hiccup says and looks down to the first leg that Heather made for him four years ago. But that gets interrupted by Barf and Belch licking him and Heather.

"Okay, what's gotten into these two?" Heather wonders.

"It's really strange. Zipplebacks are normally fiercely loyal." Fishlegs says. "Why are they doting on Hiccup and Heather and ignoring you two?" He wonders.

"Well, didn't hiccup pull them out of the way of a deadly avalanche?" Gobber questions.

"Yeah." Hiccup confirms.

"Well, there you go. Same thing as my cousin, Bard. He saved a Zippleback from a Changewing. The beast wouldn't leave him alone...for years." Gobber explains.

"So, this could go on forever?" Tuffnut asks.

"Exactly, it's a life debt. Barf and Belch will now serve Hiccup, along with Heather as she's Hiccup's other, for the rest of their lives or until the debt is repaid. Whichever comes first." Gobber explains.

"You're saying we could be stuck with them forever?" Hiccup asks Gobber.

"Does this mean we could loose them forever?" Tuffnut asks.

"Yes, and yes." Gobber says and now they know what to do. They just need to get the dragon to save Hiccup's life.

-

After several attempts, which have gone nowhere.

One ending as a game.

The second one ended with Heather and Windshear needing to save him.

Back at the twins hut, they're working on a new way to put Hiccup in danger.

Ruffnut looses her frustration and is angry to how they can't get their dragon back.

"What's wrong, sis? I haven't seen him this sad since bjorn boar lost in the inter-archipelago sectionals." Tuffnut reminds her.

"That was a sad day. But this is worse." Ruffnut tells him. "Do you realize we have nothing? Nothing, I tell you. If we don't think of something, we may never get our dragon ack from that tyrant. Why? Why do they love him more than us?" She questions.

"It's the forbidden fruit. You always want what you can't have." Tuffnut tells his sister. "The dragon's always hotter oh the other side. We need help. We need someone diabolical. Someone completely devoid of any continence, or any human emotion whatsoever."

"I can only think of one man that soulless." Ruffnut says as they form a new plan.

-

The next morning, Hiccup wakes up and sees Heather is still asleep as he goes out for some air.

But once he gets out there, he's met by Snotlout.

"Hey." He greets Hiccup.

"H-Hey?" Hiccup says while rubbing his eyes before getting hit by Snotlout and drops to the ground.

"What is wrong with you!?" Hiccup questions as he gets back up.

"Hiccup Haddock, I'm calling you out! Defend yourself!" Snotlout warns before swinging an ax between his legs. "Fight me." He tells Hiccup.

"What? What are you doing?" Hiccup asks him.

"I said, fight me." Snotlout tells him. "What's that Hiccup? You want to fight to the death?"

"What? Who said that? Nobody said that!" Hiccup states, completely confused to what's happening.

"You did." Snotlout says and keeps swinging the ax.

From a distance, Tuff and Ruff are watching as their dragon approaches the two.

"Here they come. Life debt no more." Tuffnut tells his sister.

"You think Snotlout will get barbecued?" Ruffnut asks.

"Sis, I have to say, I always knew that Snotlout would end up as collateral damage." Tuffnut admits as they watch the fight.

Snotlout gets his ax stuck in the table and Hiccup starts walking away when Snotlout flicks his ear.

"Ow! I'm not going to fight you, Snotlout!" Hiccup states and continues to walk off.

"You see that? The great Night Rider is a coward!" Snotlout says and Hiccup then stops in his tracks. "You heard me. Come on. Hit me. You know you want to." He mocks Hiccup who just gives in.

"Fine. But remember. You wanted this." Hiccup reminds him before giving him a punch to the face.

"Ow!" Snotlout cries out in pain and takes a few steps back. "What'd you do that for? Hold on. I gotta take a..." he was saying before collapsing.

Heather wakes up hearing the screams and comes out to see him collaps as Barf and Beach return and drops fish off before flying off.

"That was incredible." Ruffnut admits.

"Who knew that that scrawny, little one legged dragon hero had that in him." Tuffnut says, agreeing.

"That does it. There's nothing left." Ruffnut says sadly.

"Gobber was right. We lost our dragon for good." Tuffnut says.

"But on the bright side, Snotlout did just get punched in the face." Ruffnut says, seeing a bright side.

Hiccup and Heather stand over Snotlout as he starts waking back up.

"Mom, dad, Hiccup punched me. I'm really thirsty." Snotlout says before passing out.

"Clubhouse, now." Hiccup tells the twins.

"And get him some ice." Heather adds on.

-

The five of them are in the clubhouse as Snotlout holds a block of ice to his face and Hiccup paces back and forward.

"A little warning would've been nice." Hiccup tells the twins.

"Well, to be honest, Hiccup, we figured out what was ruining our plans." Tuffnut tells him.

"It was you." Ruffnut explains.

"Me?" Hiccup asks.

"You, my friend, are a terrible actor." Tuffnut states.

"So you made Snotlout attack him?" Heather clarified.

"Surprise is the word we prefer to use." Ruffnut says.

"We needed a real reaction." Tuffnut replies.

"And boy did we get one. Eh, Snotlout?" Ruffnut asks the Viking in pain.

Snotlout just reaches into his mouth and pulls out a tooth from the force of the punch.

"Unfortunately, we weren't expecting Thor's mighty hammer to meet Snotlout's paper jaw." Tuffnut admits, since that was a surprise nobody other than Heather saw coming.

"Okay, you do realize that if Barf and Belch had actually tried to save me, Snotlout would have been roasted alive?" Hiccup asks of them and Snotlout gasps at the news.

"We took that into account in our risks assessment." Ruffnut tells him.

"This situation is seriously getting out of hand." Hiccup tells Heather who agrees.

"Please, Hiccup, you've gotta help us. We're lost without our dragon." Tuffnut tells him. "We have nothing to live for. Don't you understand?"

"We will get you your dragon back." Heather promises, since she can't tolerate the Zippleback any more tan Hiccup can.

"But, you two have to stop. Stop your plans, stop your schemes. Okay? I'm gonna figure this out." Hiccup tells them and starts walking out. "I just need time alone." He says and leaves them.

As he left, Heather looks to see Snotlout lost two more teeth and is slightly proud of Hiccup.

Hiccup was walking alone in the forest and didn't know the Zippleback was watching him when he was suddenly attacked and a bag was placed over his head.

"Really, guys? What did I say?" Hiccup asks as he's unknowingly kidnapped by Dragon Hunters.

Barf and Belch see this happening and races after him.

The two men bring Hiccup to their boat and bring out Dagur as he's tied to the post.

"Okay, This the single worst pan you have ever come up with." Hiccup states as they remove the sack over his face and he sees Dagur and Ryker.

"Oh, I don't know, Hiccup. You're our prisoner. Seems like a brilliant plan to me." Dagur tells him while laughing. "So, looks like your little island stronghold isn't so strong after all. It's completely unguarded from the north. You know, it doesn't take much to put in a watchtower." He informs Hiccup.

"I'm working on it." Hiccup replies annoyed.

-

Back on the Edge, Toothless is staring off into the ocean starting to get worried when Heather approaches him.

"You're worried, too? Yeah, I'm starting to as well." Heather admits.

"Has anyone seen Hiccup?" Ruffnut asks. "We can't find him and guess who else is gone? Can't trust anyone."

"Okay, now there is definitely something wrong." Heather tells the group.

-

Back on the boat, they start sailing away from the Edge with Hiccup on board.

"We are gonna extract every little piece of dragon knowledge from that tiny coconut shaped noggin. We're gonna use you to take us to every island that you have ever visited, then you will tell us what dragons you are hiding on that island of yours." Dagur tells him their plan with him.

"And if I don't?" Hiccup questions.

"Ah, I hope you don't." Ryker says while holding a sword to his neck.

Suddenly, the front of the boat explodes and they turn to see Barf and Belch are attacking.

They fly around the boat several times while they release gas then ignited it as a distraction to help Hiccup as he makes his way over to them.

"First time in a while that I've been happy to see you guys." Hiccup tells the dragon as the hunters come in and they fight them off, but then send a blast into the air calling for help.

-

The Edge sees the explosion and they fly off towards it, leaving the twins since they can't help.

"Hey, Wait! That's our dragon out there." Tuffnut states.

"What do we do?" Ruffnut asks when the two look next to them and see Toothless is still there.

"Hey, T, how you been?" Tuffnut asks him and the dragon sees what they're thinking.

-

Back on the ship, Barf and Belch are trying to help Hiccup when Ryker comes in, ready to finish Hiccup off but the dragon helps Hiccup and they take off.

Hiccup looks as he almost runs into everyone else, but managed to run into Ruff and Tuff on Toothless causing them all to separate.

"Hiccup!" Heather shouts, seeing him plumit.

Hiccup just makes his way to his dragon and gets back in the air while Ruff and Tuff got Barf and Belch back and they take off.

"Back in the saddle, baby." Tuffnut cheers as they fly back to the group.

"Now let's get these guys away from the Edge." Hiccup says and they all go in and started destroying their weaponry and they decide to retreat.

-

The next day, Ruff and Tuff are enjoying having their dragon back

"So, it would seem the life debt has been repaid." Heather says seeing the twins and their dragon.

"Barf and Belch saved me from the Dragon Hunters, and the twins saved their dragon from drowning. Everything's back to normal." Hiccup assures her.

But then suddenly Snotlout comes charging and tackles Hiccup.

"Will someone please tell this lunatic it's over?!" Hiccup asks.

"Snotlout!" Snotlout cheers.


	16. Edge of disaster

Astrid and Stormfly are flying by the watchtower to relieve the twins of their duty.

"Hey, guys! You are officially relieved from guard duty." Astrid tells them and they're standing there. "Stormfly, get me in close. Why do we have to go through this every single..." She was asking when she sees that the twins aren't there but just statues of them. "Are you kidding me?"

Astrid gets back on Stormfly and flies off to have a talk with Hiccup about this.

-

"They didn't stand their post. Those dummies left two dummies in their place." Astrid tells Hiccup who's leaning against his hut listening to her as Heather is still inside.

"You know, those dummies could conceivably be just as effective as the twins." Hiccup admits.

"Not funny." Astrid tells him. "We built that watchtower so that-"

"We know why it was built, Astrid." Heather tells her from inside the hut.

"I just don't understand how this isn't making you completely insane." Astrid tells him.

"Because, then there'd be two crazy people in this conversation and we wouldn't get anywhere." Hiccup says.

"Are you saying I'm..?"

"Astrid, let us talk to the twins. We'll get their side of the story, then we can figure out what we need to do." Hiccup offers when the said twins land near them.

"Well, if it isn't our crack security team now." Astrid says sarcastically.

"Please, please, there's no need to shower us with accolades." Tuffnut promises her.

"Tuff, you left two dummies to protect this entire base." Astrid recaps what he did.

"Not a base." Heather reminds her, since this is their home.

As they talk a Terrible Terror comes flying in and Heather takes the note attached to his foot.

"What you fail to realize in your foggy morning state, is that those are not dummies. They are scareships." Tuffnut tells her.

"Scareships?" Astrid questions.

"You didn't see any ships near the island, did you?" Ruffnut asks.

"I think not. And why? The They were appropriately scared away. By the scareships." Tuffnut finishes.

"Are you following any of this?" Astrid asks Hiccup who's looking over the letter Heather read.

"Not closely. I'm reading this. It's from Johann. He's in trouble." Hiccup says and he needs to get a few of them to go save him.

-

Hiccup is taking the group but is leaving Heather, Astrid and the twins to watch over the Edge.

"You sre not leaving me with these two muttonheads." Astrid tells Hiccup.

"She knows we're standing right here, right?" Tuffnut asks.

"Look, Johann is surrounded by Dragon Hunters, and his ship is taking water, plus he knows about everything here. We have to get out there and help him." Hiccup tells her. "And I need you and Heather to stay here and hold down the Edge. The twins are just your backup, Heather knows how to hold her own and how to hold the place down."

"I can't believe this is happening. This actually may be the worst day in history." Astrid states.

"Astrid, the forever-ice that Elsa left us only fits for Hookfang and Toothless, and Meatlug is immune to the Dragon Hunter arrows. And we can't just rush off to Arendelle which is in the opposite direction of Johann. There isn't enough time. And we need to keep at least someone behind who is immune to the arrows, being Windshear."

"Hiccup, please!" Astrid starts begging. "For all that is sacred in Thor's world, you cannot leave me with these two-"

"What do you say? Simpletons? Blockheads?" Tuffnut asks.

"I was always partial to dimwit myself. It rolls trippingly off the tongue." Ruffnut says.

"You see what I'm talking about, right?" Astrid asks.

"Hey, it's not like we woke up this morning hoping to spend 24/7 with you either, Astrid. I mean, Heather, we can get over, she's not as uptight." Tuffnut informs Astrid. "But we are team players. We will do what is necessary for the gold of the group. Hence, we shall remain behind and enjoy your company, my fair Astrid."

"We'll be back by tomorrow at the latest." Hiccup tells Heather as he mounts Toothless.

"Be careful, please." Heather asks from him.

"I'll do my best, but odds are against me." Hiccup admits.

"Oh, Astrid, I know these next twenty four hours will be difficult for you. Unable to look into these deep romantic, yet hauntingly beautiful eyes, shimmering like gold dust in the wind-" Snotlout was saying when Astrid throws him against Hookfang. "Okay, so we'll see you when we get back. Have fun." He says and they all take off.

"Okay, I think the first team building exercise we should perform is that of going back to sleep." Tuffnut tells them. "I mean, as a team."

"Couldn't agree more. What say you Astrid, Heather?" Ruffnut asks.

"I have to go find a hiding spot for the Dragon Eye, just in case." Heather says and leaves them.

-

When Heather left, Astrid put the twins to work as they're moving another log to their pile.

"_What say you, Astrid_? Haven't I always told you it's better to beg for permission then to ask for forgiveness?" Tuffnut asks his sister.

"Personally, I think it's the other way around." Ruffnut tells him.

"So now you're the literary authority on the subject of permissions and forgiveness?" Tuffnut asks.

"Quit talking. You lose focus when your mouth is moving." Astrid says as she looks over the work she drew up.

"We've down all of these already?" Tuffnut asks as he sees the logs they've worked on. "We are kicking some serious-"

"No, that's your first one. All the others I did myself." Astrid informs him.

The twins just drop their log and that accidentally hits the others and they fall of the ledge and into the ocean.

Following their riders, Barf and Belch throw their log they were holding into the ocean.

"You know what? I'll get the rest of the lumber myself. You two start lashing together some poles for the first level of stairs." Astrid tells them and walks off.

-

Heather returns after hiding the Dragon Eye in one of her and Hiccup's hiding spots they made around the island for emergencies. They were originally for the dragons if they come across a rare species and someone was after it.

"Where are they?" Heather asks when Astrid returns and sees the twins are gone.

"Where could they have possibly gone?" Astrid asks when they hear the twins cheeeing and they turn to see them coming down on the rope and are gliding down until the hit face first into the watchtower.

"That hurt." Ruffnut says and the logs start moving again.

"Windshear." Heather calls for her dragon and Windshear stops the logs from moving by shooting her spikes in front of them.

"Astrid, Heather, you have got to try this. The landings a little rough, but.." Tuffnut was telling them.

"We know this wasn't what you were planning, but we really thing we're on to something. The stairs have their own use for sure, but this can truly come in handy." Ruffnut tells them.

"Honestly, I do actually see what you mean." Heather admits seeing if they improved it a little it could be useful.

"Really?" Astrid asks, not wanting to encourage these two. "What am I going to do?" She asks.

"Well, you can start with being kind." Ruffnut tells Astrid. "Oh, wait, you can't do that because kindness is nowhere in that scrawny little body of yours."

"Hold on, guys. Let's calm down." Heather asks, trying to calm them down.

"Do you know what your problem is, Ruffnut?" Astrid asks.

"Or maybe not." Heather says seeing they're off and no chance of stopping.

"Oh, you bet I do. I've got a list of problems so long, I can't even keep track." Ruffnut admits to Astrid. "Question is, do you know what your problem is, Astrid?"

"My problem? Are you serious?" Astrid asks.

"Allow me to lay it out for you, my flaxen haired friend. You have no respect for the people around you who are just trying to help and be a part of the team. You have no respect for Fishlegs, certainly none for Snotlout, barely any for Heather, and you couldn't have less respect for the two of us! Now you can go ahead and shame the others! You can mock every dragon on the island if you wish, which might take some time. This island is full of dragons. But I am not gonna stand here and listen to you and insult the entire nut family tree!" She says before walking off.

"She's wrong, you know. I..do. I...respect you guys." Astrid tells the two of them.

"Astrid, you could barely even say it." Heather informs her and walks off.

-

With the team, they're flying towards where the terror mail came from and they're searching for Johann when they find him being attacked by wild dragons.

"I thought he said it was dragon hunters." Snotlout remembers.

"He did, but you know Johann." Hiccup tells them.

"Dragons, dragon hunters. What's the difference?" Snotlout asks.

The three of them started flying in to help Johann.

"I wonde what Johann did to get them mad at him." Fishlegs says.

"Probably told them one of his dumb stories." Snotlout jokes.

"Not funny, Snotlout. Let's just get Johann out of there, and be careful. We don't want to hurt any of these dragons." Hiccup tells them.

"What about them hurting us? That never seems to enter your mind." Snotlout informs him.

"Master Rider! There everywhere!" Johann says and Hiccup gets the dragons attention and they start attacking Toothless and Hiccup.

Toothless shoots at them, making them all disappear.

"We really must've caught these guys on a bad day." Hiccup guesses and sees there's a Groncles on Johann's ship.

Snotlout flies in and gets their attention and they chase him.

"This reminds me of the time I was attacked by a flock of rabid wild fruit bats off the coast of Paula." Johann says.

"Be quiet! You're only making them more angry. And us, too." Snotlout informs him.

Johann gets surrounded by Nightmares when Fishlegs tries helping him and gets kidnapped by the dragons.

"This could take longer than we thought." Hiccup admits.

-

Back at the Edge, Ruffnut was complaining about Astrid as she makes it to the watchtower and suddenly gets taken by Dragon Hunters.

Tuffnut was looking for his sister when he looks and sees she's been taken.

"Astrid, Heather. I gotta get them." Tuffnut says and races back to the Edge.

"When I get out of these chains, I'm gonna-" Ruffnut was trying to threaten but they just laugh.

"Feisty, isn't she? I like it." The Dragon Hunter says as he leads her to Ryker.

-

The team makes it to the island where the dragons took Fishlegs and brought Johann.

"Johann, did the wild dragons take anything from the ship?" Hiccup asks him.

"No, Master Rider. They seemed only interested in terrorizing me until you lot came along, then they started terrorizing you." Johann says. "I've always been a great friend to the dragons. That they would turn on me like this, it's inconceivable."

"This doesn't make any sense. Nightmares, Nadders, Groncles, even in the wild, these dragons shouldn't be this aggressive. From a Speed Stinger or a Changewing, those dragons I can believe, but maybe these guys have never seen humans before." Hiccup says. "Even in the wild, none of them have acted like this."

-

Heather was in her hut working out when the door opens and she sees Tuffnut out of breath.

"Tuff, is everything okay?" Heather asks him and he just tries catching his breathe.

"You've...you've got to do something about the stairs. I mean, there must be hundreds of them, there's over ten at least." Tuffnut tells her.

"You came all the way up here to talk about the stairs?" Heather questions, not seeing why he would do that.

"No. It's Ruffnut. They got Ruffnut." Tuffnut tells her. "Dragon hunters."

Heather gets angry and grabs her double blade.

They inform Astrid on what's happening and they fly off to where Tuffnut saw her getting taken.

"This is all my fault." Astrid admits.

"Tell me about it." Tuffnut agrees with her.

"I shouldn't have been so hard on her."

"You were way too hard on her."

"She's just Ruff being Ruff. She can't help it."

"Truer words, A. Truer words." Tuffnut says and they both look at him.

"Sorry. Just helping her work through the truth, the shame, all the bad things that she did, all the things she should be feeling bad for getting some closure." Tuffnut says as they land and look and see they're in trouble.

There's an entire fleet of dragon hunters coming for them.

"I don't think there's gonna be a Ruffnut to apologize to, in fact there might not be an us." Tuffnut states.

-

The three return to the edge to start working out a plan.

"We're going to have to hold down the Edge, defend it as best as we can until Hiccup and the others return. And all of our dragon defenses are going to be useless against their arrows." Heather says and knows they should've built better defenses over the years.

"Maybe we can slow them down until help gets here if we use your spears and arrows sparingly." Astrid tells her.

"Which isn't a lot." Heather informs her. She and Hiccup made sure there was nothing on the edge that could hurt or injure dragons or dragon babies. Besides, when you have the offspring of lightning and death itself, they're kind of pointless.

"Wait! I know a even better way we can slow them down." Tuffnut tells them.

"Not now, Tuff, I need to think." Astrid tells him.

"No, seriously! You need to hear this." Tuffnut tells her.

"All right, what is it?" Heather asks, wanting to hear it.

"Okay, well, as you know, tricking is my area of expertise. I am the official Dragon's Edge trickster." Tuffnut reminds them.

"You're the only trickster oh the Edge." Heather reminds Tuffnut but lets him continue.

"Good point. But, they don't! So we trick them into thinking there are more of us then there are. We can start with the scareships, and build a little tricking army. It'll be awesome!" Tuffnut tells them.

"Actually, it's not a half bad idea." Heather admits seeing the potential of that plan.

"Seriously? This is not the time for pranks, or Loki-ing." Astrid informs the two of them. "This is a time for strategic thinking and precise preparation. There are times in life when you have to be serious."

"Astrid, me and Hiccup have trained every dragon on the island to defend this place. How about we do things differently and set up our own ways?" Heather says since the three of them have three different styles to how they can defend their home.

Heather with the dragons, Astrid with strategies, and Tuffnut's pranks could all come in handy.

-

The two hunters bring Ruffnut to Ryker and Dagur on the beach.

"Well, guess you don't know the Dragon Riders as well as you though, eh, Dagur?" Ryker asks him.

"You don't know 'em at all." Ruffnut says as her voice is muffled from the sack over her head.

"At least I have a plan to get the Dragon Eye. It's not like I can make them take the bait." Dagur informs him.

"They never left to rescue Trader Johann from those dragons. The girl proves it."

"Yeah. I prove that you have all been fooled." Ruffnut says.

"Then we'll just have to deal with all of them instead." Ryker says.

"Listen, if you all want to go in a suicide mission, that's your problem, buddy. But don't say I didn't want you!" Ruffnut tells them.

"She's lying! She's trying to confuse us." Dagur says.

"I'm always lying. Wait, now I'm confused." Ruffnut says.

"Gather the men. We move slowly." Ryker tells them and board the rowboat. "Destroy anything in our path, until we get our Dragon Eye. Then, we destroy whatever's left."

"Excuse me, sir. There's something I've been wondering." Savage starts off.

"A daily occurrence, but go ahead." Dagur tells him.

"In regards to this Ryker fellow, it seems as though he's taken on the role of leader. And, well, I was under the assumption that this was your role." Savage explains.

"That's not his role." Ruffnut tells him.

"It is, you dunderhead. I'm just using Ryker for the time being. When I get my hands on the Dragon Eye...I'm gonna figure out the most painful and horrible way to get rid of him and the rest of his crew." Dagur tells them as they reach the ship.

"Ah! That's a relief." Savage says as he starts moving Ruffnut onto the ship.

"That really is the single worst plan I have ever heard, and that's coming from me." Ruffnut informs them.

"Would you stop talking!" Dagur tells her.

-

Hiccup, Snotlout and Johann finally find the dragons and Fishlegs among them.

"Master Night, I realizes that you're the dragon expert among us." Johann tells Hiccup.

"I wouldn't say _the_ dragon expert." Snotlout says when Hiccup puts his hand over his mouth.

"As I was saying, it appears to me that this island is occupied by a rather unfriendly pack of wind dragons." Johann says and Hiccup uses his spyglass to get a closer look.

"You're right, Johann. But it's worse than that." Hiccup says as they see they're surrounding Fishlegs.

"So, this means we get to go and rescue him, I suppose." Snotlout guesses.

"It does. And thank you for volunteering." Hiccup tells him. "But it's not going to be easy."

"With you as the leader, I know it won't." Snotlout states.

"Look, they have dragon sentries. Like what me and Heather have set up at home. It's gonna be really hard to get anywhere near Fishlegs." Hiccup tells them.

"Well, I suppose the life of a Dragon Rider is shorter than others. I'll miss him dearly." Johann says, not wanting to go in there.

"Good point, Johann." Snotlout agrees.

"We're not going anywhere. I said hard, not impossible." Hiccup tells them and starts coming up with a plan.

-

Heather looks lit and sees what they're facing alone and hopes they can fight off the armada without Hiccup.

"Let's hope that the dragons are ready, Girl. We're gonna need them." Heather tells Windshear as this is going to be a long day.


	17. Edge of disaster part 2

Tuffnut used Astrid's catapult from ontop of her hut and sinks one of the Dragon hunters ships.

"Yes! Who kicks Dragon Hunter butt? Tuffnut kicks Dragon Hunter butt." Tuffnut starts chanting when Heather flies by on Windshear.

"Let's not start kissing our own butts yet, Tuff." Heather tells him.

"I didn't even know that was possible." Tuffnut says looking at his butt.

"She's right. This is far from over." Astrid says and Tuffnut goes running and makes it to the other catapults and is ready to fire.

"Monsterous Nightmare gel plus open flame equals..." Tuffnut says as he places a flame over a bucket with the gel before catapulting it away and sets their ship on fire. "Fun for all! Well, not all...just for me I guess."

Heather flies past and picks him up to move him out of the way as their groncles fly above them, out of the range of the arrows and start dropping boulders on the ships.

"That's right! Get 'em!" Heather cheers on the dragons.

-

Back with Hiccup and the rescue team, Fishlegs is still surrounded by dragons and Hiccup has come up with a plan.

"Okay, we all know the plan, correct? Hiccup asks them.

"Yes." Snotlout says.

"No!" Johann says while raising his hand.

"We all know the plan, you told us 25 times." Snotlout continues. "Just so you know, I still object."

"Objection still noted." Hiccup assures him. "Now Johann, your only job is to distract the Dragon sentry on the far cliff." He tells Johann as he tries climbing on Meatlug. "Approach it from the rear so Meatlug doesn't see Fishlegs."

"Why shouldn't Meatlug see master Fishlegs?" Johann wonders.

"Because she might...well, we don't know what she'll do." Hiccup lies.

"Sure we do." Snotlout says.

"Snotlout!"

"What? You don't think Johann should know what could happen to him?"

"Yes, I do. I think I should know what could happen to me." Johann tells them.

"Nothing is going to happen to you, Johann. You're going to be fine as long as you stick to the plan." Hiccup assures him.

With Fishlegs, he's trying to not get hurt or eaten by the dragons.

"You may not know this, but where I come from, I'm known as a friend to all dragons." Fishlegs says to the Nadder that's in his face when he notices the scratches all over her face. He then notices that alll of the dragons have it and he realizes that they're arrow marks.

A baby Groncle starts choking on something and Fishlegs goes over to help and sees it swallowed Quartzite.

"I thought so. Meatlug chokes on them all the time." Fishlegs says and sees the baby is happy.

"Hey, Fishlegs." Hiccup call's and Fishlegs turns to see him hiding with Toothless. "We're gonna get you out of here. You okay?"

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs calls.

"Yes, it's me, let's go while they're distracted." Hiccup says and Fishlegs walks over to him.

"Look at the dragons, they have scars all over them."

"Well, this is quite the diverse pack. They must fight more than once. Now can we get out of here?" Hiccup asks.

"The scars aren't from other dragons, they're from humans. They're arrow wounds, bola scars." Fishlegs lists.

"The Dragon Hunters have been here. That would explain why these dragons are so aggressive. They attacked us because the Dragon Hunters have hurt them. But why would they be out here?" Hiccup wonders. "Unless...they drove Johann here on purpose. It was a trap and we flew in it."

"Speaking of flying, where's Meatlug?" Fishlegs wonders.

"Over that ridge. Johann is riding her now." Hiccup tells him.

"Johann? You let Johann ride my Meatlug? My Meatlug?!" Fishlegs asks a bit too loud and Meatlug heard him and flies to them and the dragons notice Hiccup and Toothless.

Toothless leaped out of hiding and defended Hiccup as the dragons start attacking.

"I knew this was going to happen!" Snotlout states.

"Can you please just get down here and help us." Hiccup tells him.

"On, sure. Come bail us out again. It's always the Snot that has to clean up the mess." Snotlout complains and comes flies in as Toothless gets off the ground and they leave to come up with a new plan.

-

"Both ships? They sunk both ships?!" Ryker asks.

"I'd like to take this moment to point out that I did mention you'd be sorry for attacking the Edge. Just saying." Ruffnut reminds them as she's tied to the tree now.

"The only think I'm sorry about is that my men took you alive." Ryker states. "Second wave, go!" He tells his men.

They start heading into the woods where Windshear and Heather spots them.

"Windshear, tail shot." Heather tells her dragon as she fires spikes at the placed logs and they start falling onto the hunters.

The hunters start running from the logs back to the beach.

"Sir, unfortunately, we've had some injuries and several deserters." Savage tells Ryker and Dagur.

"Deserters!? Who?" Dagur questions.

"Skadsgard, Nygren, Lars #2." Savage lists.

"Completely expendable. All three, including #2." Dagur says.

"Lars #2 is my cousin!" Ryker informs Dagur, getting in his face.

"Oh, well, isn't that a great show of family support? Things get a little sticky and old cousin Lars leaves us with our swords in our hands. Tell me, is that how you Hunters do things? 'Cause I'd rather know now..." Ryker starts getting mad at Dagur and he starts seeing it. "Relax. I trust you. Every family has a Lars #2. Now, back the track. I was figuring-"

"I don't care how you do it. Just get it done. Do not let anything happen to the Dragon Eye." Ryker tells him. "Everything else can burn to the ground." He says while leaving.

"I don't have to take that from that guy. Do I have to?" Dagur asks Savage who doesn't know.

"_Traaap, snappy trap_." Ruffnut sings from the tree.

"What is she mumbling about?" Dagur asks.

"Hello! Obviously, it's a trap." Ruffnut says.

"Someone shut her up please." Dagur asks as they leave her alone.

As soon as she was alone, a Changewing sneaks up behind Ruffnut.

"Nice Changewing." Ruffnut whispers in terror of why the dragon is here when it bites off her ropes and she notices a message attached to its back.

_Take Shade, find Hiccup._

_-Heather_

"Okay, that's clever." Ruffnut says seeing the plan and hops on the Changewing and flies off to find Hiccup and the others.

Astrid returns to the clubhouse where Heather and Tuffnut are waiting as Heather sees Shade taking off into the sky.

"Well, Ruffnut is safe at least." Heather assures herself, knowing backup will be here soon now.

"It's over, guys. We tried, but there's just too many of them. My plan didn't work." Astrid tells them.

"You wanna be captured and tortured by crazed Dragon Hunters, or listen to plan Tuffnut?" Tuffnut asks them.

Astrid looks annoyed and Heather says they go for it.

"I mean, what else have we got to loose?" Heather asks.

"Quite a bit, actually. The huts, Fishlegs' topiaries, Macey, our lives, the dragons...wait, that was another rhetockrial question, wasn't it?" Tuffnut asks as they go to put his plan into motion.

-

"So, lemme get this straight. Those really crazy whacked out dragons don't want to hurt our dragons?" Snotlout clarifies with Hiccup.

"Right." Hiccup confirms for him.

"They just want to hurt us?" Snotlout asks.

"Correct." Hiccup assures.

"Because they think we're Dragon Hunters and are going to hurt them and our dragons?"

"That's about the size of it."

"That is quite the conundrum." Johann states.

"Why don't you go in there and have a talk with the big dragon in charge, tell them that we're not Dragon Hunters, and that these guys love us?" Snotlout asks Hiccup.

"You know, there may be something to that." Hiccup says as Snotlout actually helped.

"Thank you, off you go. If you don't come back, we'll tell Heather you died heroically." Snotlout promises and gets a growl from Toothless.

"Okay, here's the plan. Toothless and I will go in there and get the dragons riled up and lure as many as we can, starting with the leader. Then, you and Johann-"

"Master Night, I feel as though one more ride on that dragon may turn my insides into my outsides." Johann interrupts Hiccup.

"You'll be fine, Johann. As soon as Toothless and I have them following us, you guys sneak in and grab Fishlegs. Without their leader, it shouldn't be a problem." Hiccup assures him.

"Ha! We've heard that before." Snotlout states.

"Okay, fine, then you rile up the dragons and get the to follow you." Hiccup offers the job to him.

"Hey, calm down, cranky. I was just exploring our options." Snotlout says.

"All right, can we go then?" Hiccup asks as he takes off.

"This does remind me of a time..." Johann was saying when Snotlout stops him.

"Johann, if you tell me one of your stories, I swear I will turn your insides into your outsides." Snotlout promises.

"For another day, then." Johann realizes.

Hiccup and Toothless are in the air and are able to get the dragons to follow them

"Okay, bud. Let's see how long we can keep these guys busy." Hiccup says when a Nadder comes in their way and Toothless almost strikes. "We're not here to fight, bud. Sky!" He tells his dragon and they go into the air.

Johann and Snotlout fly in and see Fishlegs surrounded by sleeping dragons.

"Let's just hurry up with this ridiculous plan before it falls apart, which it will." Snotlout says as they approach the sleeping Fishlegs. "Is he actually sleeping?"

"It would appear so." Johann confirms.

Meatlug is happy to see her rider and But him sleeping with the baby Groncle he saved earlier and gets upset.

"Jealousy is not a good look on you, Meatlug." Snotlout informs the dragon. "Maybe you could wake him up. Let him know how you feel." He offers and the dragon farts in his face, waking her rider.

"Meatlug? I knew that was you." Fishlegs says as he gets up.

"We came to rescue you. Now get your butt on that gas bag and lets get out of here before these dragons wake up and their pals come back." Snotlout tells him.

"But where's Hiccup?" Fishlegs wonders.

-

Hiccup and Toothless are in their trying to get rid of the other dragons when one comes by and hits Hiccup off of Toothless and he plumits.

"Okay, I guess we don't have a choice." Hiccup says and starts placing his flight suit together before using his wings to glide and landing on a stump of land. "That was close." He says when the dragons find them.

Hiccup looks and sees they're stuck between the dragons and the cliff. Then he gets an idea and steps forward before revealing his wings.

That causes the dragons to jump in surprise and then start calming down.

"Pretty cool, right?" Hiccup says as the Nadder starts sniffing them. "Yeah, you see. We're not so different. We're not like those Hunters. We would never hurt a dragon." He promises them and he sees they trust him now.

-

The hunters start climbing ropes to get up to the Edge when they start getting covered by Nightmare gel and see Astrid and Tuffnut watching.

"Hello!" Astrid greets them. "Ropes soaked with Monsterous Nightmare gel? I wouldn't have thought of that." She tells Tuffnut.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Tuffnut asks Stormfly and she lights the ropes on fire, sending them running.

"What's next?" Astrid asks him.

Tuffnut then laughs maniacally. "You're gonna love this." He promises them.

At the docks, they try climbing up when an arrow almost hits them.

"Take that, you lousy Dragon Hunter." Tuffnut says doing his best Stoick impression behind his scareships. "You're dealing with Stoick the Vast now!" He then moves over to his Snotlout cutout and does the same thing.

"I mean, who hurts dragons anyway? Dragons are our friends." Heather says, doing her best Hiccup impersonation without laughing at this.

"Whoo! I'm Fishlegs! This is how I sound! It's really me!" Tuffnut says as he pushes a barrel full of boulders down on them as they run away. "That's right. You don't want none."

In the woods, Dagur and a few men are walking through when Heather and Windshear come into view and tries hitting them.

"They can't shoot at us through this canopy of trees." Dagur assures the men. "Nice try, sister! Your punny Razorwhip spines are useless from up there." He says as she flies off.

They keep walking and come up across a figure in the woods.

"Look, there they are, in the trees. Fire, boys! Fill 'em with wood!" Dagur commands and they shoot at the two figures that Tuffnut placed and they're filled with Zippleback gas. "What's that smell? I know that smell. She was driving us into a trap." He realizes and sees the men are lighting the arrows. "No! Not flaming..." they explode as the flame hits the gas, causing a massive explosion. "Arrows..."

They return to the beach and sees the men and Dagur smoking from the flames.

"I swear, I will wear that Night Fury's Head as a hat." Ryker promises.

"Settle down big boy, I called dibs already on the hat thing." Dagur states to him. "Besides, that wasn't a Night Fury, it was Zippleback gas." He explains when he wonders something. "Wait, no Night Fury. Which begs the question, where was Hiccup and his plasma blasting buddy? For that matter, where was the Gronckle and the big one with the dimwit?"

"Of course, they split up!" Ryker realizes.

From the Edge, they look and see they're now doing a full frontal assault on the Edge.

"Oh, come on! Are these guys serious? What's it gonna take?" Tuffnut wonders.

"Well then, guess it's time to do things my way." Heather says seeing it's time for a dragon attack. "Tuff, I'm gonna need you to do something crazy."

"Me do something crazy? I love your plan already." Tuffnut states with a huge grin.

-

With Hiccup and the others, they're flying back to the Edge with the wild dragons in tail and Johann is onboard Meatlug.

"Excuse me? Did you know there's an entire pack of angry wild dragons following you?" Fishlegs asks.

"You don't say." Hiccup mockingly says.

"You're really losing your touch, Hiccup, there literally right behind you." Snotlout tells him.

"Yes, I know, Snotlout. I couldn't be happier about it." Hiccup tells him.

"All right! Hiccup has officially lost his mind." Snotlout says.

"Well, they're not trying to eat us. So I'd say something has changed." Fishlegs says.

"They saw my wings and they knew I wasn't a threat." Hiccup explains to him.

"This is an amazing discovery."

"And we have the Dragon Hunters to thank for it."

"Speaking of which, why is there a Changewing coming at us?" Snotlout asks and hiccup looks and recognized the dragon.

"Shade?" Hiccup asks when the Changewing stops and they see Ruffnut is riding him.

"There you are. Hey, where'd you get all the new dragons?" Ruffnut asks them.

"Long story. Why are you riding Shade?" Hiccup asks her.

"Equally long story. Right now, we need to get back to the Edge before there's no Edge to get back to." Ruffnut says and starts explaining on the way back.

-

Back at the Edge, Ryker and his men are climbing up the rock wall to get to the base.

"Don't stop until you kill every last one of them!" Ryker tells his men.

"Good evening, Mr. Ryker." Tuffnut says and they look at the top of the wall and see him with Chicken. "We've been expecting you."

"And you can start with this one. But save the chicken. I like chicken." Ryker tells his men.

Chicken states clucking in fear.

"Not to worry, my little fricassee. You won't be on anyone's menu tonight." Tuffnut promises before he starts chanting gibberish and the Night Terrors come flying in the form of their giant selves, sending the hunters running.

"Hold your ground!" Ryker tells them and grabs an arrow before hitting the white one, causing them all to separate.

"You don't think I've seen what Night Terrors can do?" Ryker asks them. "You people never learn."

"I could say the same for you, Ryker." Heather calls and they all look to face her as she placed her finger and thumb in her mouth and whistles for the Night Terrors to come in and attack them separately.

The Night Terrors start defending their home, just as they were trained since Heather knows the bigger dragons would be too easy of targets for them. But the smaller dragons are faster and harder to hit.

Suddenly, Heather gets knocked off of Windshear and pulls out her double blade axe when she sees Dagur.

"Hello, sister." Dagur greets her and Heather charges at him and kicks him into the wall.

"You're not my brother!" Heather says as she places the blade to his neck.

Astrid and Stormfly hold a few of the archers back while keeping away from their arrows as Tuffnut and Chicken watch as more are still climbing up the wall.

"It's not over for us, Chicken. We do not go out like this." Tuffnut tells her. "Promise me you'll fight to the end. Promise me!" He yells at the chicken who just clucks as a response.

"I knew I could count on you. You are the little ones. The big one is mine." Tuffnut tells her before throwing chicken at them and they go down.

"All right, Ryker. Gimme back my sister." Tuffnut tells him, not knowing Heather took care of that already.

"I'll tell you what, get past me and she's all yours." Ryker promises.

Tuffnut then leaps and tackles Ryker to the ground and even got a few solid punches in before Ryker gets back up and takes his swords out to finish him.

But before he could strike, a plasma blast comes in and shoots him and they all look to see Hiccup is back and has brought all of their dragons back with the wild ones.

"Why does he always have to make such a production out of everything? I really hate that guy." Dagur says when Heather just knocks him out.

"All right, gang, lets clean up this mess." Hiccup tells the dragons and they all fly off in different forms and formations to take them on.

"Oh yeah! I love the smell of Zippleback gas in the morning!" Snotlout says as he flies in and they start running the hunters off.

The dragons all help and make sure they're all gone from the island and Ruffnut is still on Shade and is using his acid on them as they all escape.

"We will meet again, Night Rider!" Ryker promises as they all leave.

-

"I'm happy to see that the training didn't go to waste." Hiccup tells Heather as they're cleaning up the mess they left behind.

"Well, it wasn't just me. Kinda improvised in between everything." Heather admits.

"Nevertheless, our home is still standing. But this war has just begun." Hiccup tells her and she knows he's right.

They're a long way from this being over.


	18. Maces and Talons

The team are all fighting off another few boats of Dragon Hunters and rescue their dragons they have captured as it seems to be getting easier.

"I keep saying don't underestimate them. And what do you do?" Dagur asks Ryker. "You underestimate them!" He says as Windshear shoots some spines their way and Dagur dodges while Ryker blocks it.

"Someone is giving them information. Someone who knows where we're going to be." Ryker sees.

Snotlout gets knocked off of Hookfang and lands on the twins dragon as they get hit and Hookfang saves Ruffnut.

"Really? He saves her?" Snotlout asks since Hookfang never cared about him. "Thanks a lot, Hookfang!"

"I know I'm not as sticky or annoying as Snotlout, but let's try and work together." Ruffnut asks of Hookfang as they fly in and get knocked down.

"They're down! Pull them up!" Dagur tells them

"Okay, Snotlout, you gas, I spark." Tuffnut says as the deck gets filled by Zippleback gas.

"Yeah, I got it. I got it!" Snotlout says as he sparks it and they go flying.

"Yes! How awesome are we?" Tuffnut asks Snotlout.

"Let me think. Totally awesome! That's who we are." Snotlout answers as Hookfang and Ruffnut try getting free of the net.

"When you're done handing out the Viking of the Year awards, you mind getting us outta here?"

"Shall we?" Snotlout asks.

"We shall." Tuffnut agrees.

They all start flying away from the burning ships leaving the hunters.

"That was..."

"Indescribable." Snotlout and Tuffnut say.

"You! Get off my dragon." Ruffnut tells Snotlout as she's still ringing Hookfang.

"Actually, my boy, Snot and I are gonna hang for a bit. You know, relive the glory of battle." Tuffnut tells his sister,

"Ugh! Come on, Hookfang." Ruffnut says as they fly off.

-

Ryker is getting seriously frustrated by their victories and their losses.

"We're heading back to the island." One of his men say.

"On who's orders? Ryker asks.

"Viggo's. He's waiting." He explains.

"Good. We'll let him settle these riders." Ryker states as he walks off to greet his younger brother.

Virgo Grimborn.

-

"These battles are becoming more rampant, we sure Johann isn't putting himself in danger by getting us all of this information?" Heather asks Hiccup as they make it to the Edge.

"Johann knows what he's doing, he says he's getting close enough to actually meet the head of the Dragon Hunters. And if we take him out, the whole army will be without a leader and will collapse, ending the fighting." Hiccup tells her. "Don't worry, Johann knows how to keep himself out of trouble. And if he thinks he's in danger, we'd be able to get him out of anything. And if it does get captured, he can tell them one of his stories until they release him." He jokes.

Heather laughs at his attempt of humor when Snotlout and Tuffnut come cheering running in a wagon as they're getting along a lot more than usual.

"Can you two stop? Or at least go somewhere else?" Heather asks as these two are creepin' her out.

-

Dragon Hunter base.

Ryker and Dagur enter the main tent where Viggo works out of and see him.

He's a bit smaller that Dagur anticipated, but doesn't look very different from anyone else besides his goatee.

"They say there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true. The other is to refuse to believe what is." Viggo says while holding a game piece in his hands. "Maces and Talons. I began playing with my grandfather when I was just a boy. I always insisted upon being the Honorable Viking chief. I could never understand how he bested me time and time again. For years, I assumed his skill transcended mine. I believed what wasn't true. But, you see, in Maces and Talons, as in life, the line between good and evil is often unclear. Black and white can become gray so easily. What one soul considers evil, another might consider righteous."

Viggo turns and places the piece on the game board.

"The Honorable Chief who fails to see this is found to be...the fool. Welcome brother." Viggo says while hugging Ryker. "You must be weary. The dragon trad is exhausting business." He says when one of their men get thrown in. "Even more so when profits wane because inventory goes missing." He says while pulling out a blade.

"Viggo, I only borrowed the hide to exchange for food. It wasn't missing for more than a day." His man says and Viggo uses his blade to help him stand up and let's him go. "Thank you, Viggo." He says as he leaves.

"Were not animals." Viggo says. "Rest. We have much to discuss tomorrow." He tells them as they hear the man who left screaming as they leave.

"Bring in Trader Johann." Viggo asks as Johann is brought inside.

"Master Viggo. How may I be of assistance?" Johann asks.

"Johann, in your travels, have you ever discovered a Flightmare?" Viggo asks.

"As the matter of fact, there's a great tale of it." Johann says and sees Viggo is not in the mood. "I can tell you how to find it, of course."

-

Hiccup was back at his hut and is looking for the Dragon Eye.

"Hey, Heather, you know where the Dragon Eye is?" Hiccup wonders, seeing its missing from his hut.

"No, but I have a feeling on where it is." Heather says guessing one of the twins or Snotlout took it when a Terrible Terror comes flying in with a message. "We got Terror mail." She tells him and looks over the note and sees it's from Johann. "Viggo's going after the Flightmare."

"Why would he want the Flightmare?" Hiccup wonders.

"If he's going after the Flightmare, we know where it's going to be. And where he's going to be. We can end this if we get him." Heather tells him.

Hiccup thinks and sees she's right. If they're smart with planning, they can end this war.

-

They fill in everyone and they fly out to where Johann says they're going and what they're doing.

"Can we just talk about the elephant in the sky for a second?" Tuffnut asks.

"No." Hiccup tells him.

"Okay. Why do we think Viggo wants this Flightmare so badly?" Tuffnut asks.

"The Flightmare's algae is able to paralyze anything, but who knows what he needs it for." Hiccup says.

"We can ask him ourselves, if we were waiting for him when he gets there." Astrid tells them and they make it to the island see the Flightmare.

"There she is. We need to stay together and make sure Viggo doesn't get near the Dragon." Hiccup tells them.

"How will we know when Viggo gets here?" Fishlegs asks when Toothless growls and they see a ship approaching,

"There's your answer." Heather says. "Okay, Ruff, Tuff, make sure you get enough algae-"

"To lure the Flightmare away because it's protective of its food. We know." Ruffnut tells them and takes the sack.

"This guy never stops." Tuffnut says. "_Lure the Flightmare. Don't eat the algae._"

"Ridiculous. I mean, why would we eat the algae?" Ruffnut asks and they both get the same idea.

"Why wouldn't we eat the algae?" The twins both ask and they take off.

"Hiccup, we've got a bit of a problem." Heather says and Hiccup looks to see there are more ships coming with Viggo than they expected.

"Hiccup, you might wanna see this, too." Astrid calls and Hiccup sees even more ships.

"I don't understand. Johann said that Viggo was planing on coming with a few trusted men. This is a lot more than a few." Snotlout states.

"Johann said that _from what he could gather_, not he was certain. And I have a feeling that that's what they wanted him to think." Hiccup guesses and they see flaming boulders come flying at them and they take to the skies.

"He set us up. He set Johann us." Heather tells Hiccup as they get into the air.

They look and see Dagur and they're closing in on them.

"We've gotta do something." Hiccup says when Heather goes flying in at Viggo. "Not exactly what I had in mind." He admits when the twins come flying past with the Flightmare on their tail and they're covered in algae. "That's one way of doing it I suppose."

They all look and see they're surrounded as Heather was able to get near Viggo's ship but one of the Dragon arrows were able to penetrate Windshear's skin and the two crash.

Heather fights off the men and sees Windshear captured.

"I'm coming, Girl." Heather promises and runs across the men and was able to get her free of the net but it's short lived when Ryker gets her.

Hiccup sees that she's been captured and starts getting worried, and trying to avoid the Flightmare isn't exactly helpful.

"Hiccup, can't you tell it we're the good guys?" Tuffnut asks him.

"Yeah. Tell it to come in for the big win." Ruffnut adds agreeing with her twin.

Hiccup looks at Heather whos caught and comes up an idea to free her and finish them.

"You guys are brilliant." Hiccup tells them.

"I don't know about brilliant. But we do have a certain glow about us." Tuffnut jokes.

"And the brilliance is short lived." Hiccup says and has them and the Flightmare follow them.

"He is persistent. You have to give him that much." Dagur says.

"Yes. Well, in this case, his persistence will not pay off." Ryker says as they fly in and they shoot the arrows.

The team flies overhead and drops algae over the deck.

Ryker laughs at the lame plan he seems to have come up with as Heather smiles seeing his plan. "Oh, no! You got us." He mickingly says and Dagur joins in.

"Hey, this stuff's cool and shiny." Dagur says when the Flightmare comes in and starts attacking them and Heather breaks free of Ryker.

"Ryker, Dagur, I'd like you to meet my friend, the Flightmare." Hiccup introduces them as the Flightmare starts freezing everyone.

"Hey, what are you doing? Get back to work. Shoot someone." Dagur tells them.

"They can't. The mist from the Flightmare freezes its victims with fear." Ryker informs him as they start capturing the Flightmare.

"Oh, perfect." Dagur says as Heather tries escaping as Toothless and Hiccup come up to get her and the arrows start shooting at them and they avoid to get caught.

"Guys, keep trying to get to Heather or Windshear." Hiccup tells the team. "It's time me and Viggo got properly introduced." He says as he flies to the ship.

Hiccup flies to the ship and sees its deserted when the team returns.

"We couldn't reach Heather, there's too many of them." Astrid says.

"The Flightmare?" Hiccup asks.

"Gone." Astrid tells him.

"Viggo, too. This guy isn't messing around. Our dragons may not be enough. We're going to have to out think this guy, outsmart him. Or Heather and Windshear...I can't even think about it." Hiccup says and now they need to think about what they can do to outsmart this guy.

Or there's no telling what'll happen to Heather or Windshear.


	19. Maces and Talons ll

"I don't get it. How did Viggo get away?" Hiccup asks. "How did we lose Heather, Windshear and the Flightmare?"

"I don't even want to think about what they're going to do to her and the dragon." Astrid says as the others return.

"You guys find anything?" Hiccup asks.

"No, the fog was too thick. They used it as cover and just vanished." Fishlegs tells him.

"It could've been worse. We could've brought the Dragon Eye." Tuffnut says, seeing an upside when Ruffnut hits him.

"How do you know I didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Hiccup asks him.

"How did I know you didn't bring the Dragon Eye?" Tuffnut asks as Ruffnut elbows him again.

"Whatever, okay. I didn't bring it." Hiccup says since he doesn't know where it is.

"No kidding. Then, Viggo would have Heather, Windshear, the Flightmare and the Dragon Eye." Snotlout states in anger.

"Which is still back in Dragon's Edge, completely unguarded by nothing but dragons." Hiccup realizes and they need to get back.

-

Returning to the Edge, the entire place has been torn apart on their search for the Eye and most of the dragons were taken down by the dragon root arrows.

"This was the last part of Viggo's plan. Leading us away so the Hunters could come in and steal the Dragon Eye. How did I not see that?" Hiccup asks himself.

"Are you sure you put it away after you got it back from the twins?" Snotlout asks Hiccup.

"Got it back from the twins?" Hiccup asks, not known what he means.

Snotlout leads them to a cave at the end of the Edge where Tuffnut retrieves the Eye.

"Thank Thor." Hiccup says taking the Eye. "I can't believe you took this without telling me. All you had to do was ask. It belongs to all of us." He informs them.

"Yeah, you two, do you know what could've happened if Viggo got a hold of it?" Snotlout asks.

"Seems to me, if I hadn't removed the Dragon Eye from your masterful hiding place, we'd be having a very different conversation right now." Ruffnut tells them.

Hiccup walks out of the cave and needs to think of what to do.

"I can't believe I let this happen. I got Heather and Windshear captured and risked the Dragon Eye being taken. I fell for Viggo's plan." Hiccup says as Toothless tries cheering him up.

"You're right, it's a mess." Astrid tells Hiccup. "And if there's a mess, we clean it up. All of us. Together." She assures him.

"We can find some of our allies, load up whatever weapons we can and go in, dragons blazing." Fishlegs says.

"Can I bring Macy? She's been begging to come along on a mission." Tuffnut asks.

"No, were not going anywhere. Nobody is going anywhere. Not yet anyway." Hiccup tells them knowing they can't go in without a plan. "Think about it. We do what we do well. We're a smart group. Fast, fearless, and ride dragons. But Viggo, he manipulated us like we were a bunch of inexperienced kids. If we have any chance against him, we can't go in, dragons blazing. Like normally. That could get Heather and Windshear killed. Any of us could be killed."

"Well, I for one, am definitely against getting us killed." Tuffnut says.

"Yep, I have to agree. And not just because we're twins and we always think the same thing." Ruffnut agrees.

"So you want to leave Viggo to hunting dragons at will?" Astrid asks.

"I want to do the right thing. And that is going to take some thinking. I don't want to loose Heather or Windshear." Hiccup tells them and walks off to think.

-

At the Dragon Hunter base, Ryker is feeding the Flightmare.

"Dragon, dinnertime. Viggo wants you to eat up, like a good little boy. If it were up to me, you'd starve." Ryker informs the Flightmare.

"Come now, brother. This dragon is our guest." Viggo states to his brother. "His value to us us immeasurable. We must treat him well, keep him happy. The bigger question is what to do with out other guest."

"The prisoner. Whispering Death tunnels. Drop her in. Watch them tear her to pieces." Ryker suggests, referring to Heather. "It could be entertaining for the crew. Boost moral."

"I'm not concerned with entertaining the crew. They need to stay sharp. It's only a matter of time before Night Rider formulates his parry." Viggo says and Ryker doesn't know what that means. "Counterattack, big brother." He explains. "Thank Thor he blessed you with strength of body. Leave Shadow be for now. She will prove useful. Almost as useful as our glowing friend here."

Back at base, Dagur is leading a hand-tied Heather to a cage.

"This should keep you nice and cozy until we bring this Dragon Rider nonsense to its horrifying conclusion." Dagur tells her.

"Dagur, we come from a proud and historic tribe of Vikings. Berserkers, we don't turn on each other. We stand for each other. How can you just ignore that?" Heather asks of him, trying to find a way to escape. But they were smart enough to separate her from Windshear so it will take some doing.

"Well, I let it enter my noggin and then I pay no attention." Dagur says honestly. "Right? I mean, that's how you ignore something."

"Dagur, we share the same blood. You are too smart to ignore anything, brother." Heather says, trying the family side f things.

"Can I ask you something, _sister_?" Dagur asks. "Where were all these lovey-dovey family values when you and your boyfriend were trying to blow up my ship and kill me?"

"I didn't know you were my brother at that point. And if you remember, you destroyed my entire island that brought me to this position." Heather reminds him, since if it weren't for Dagur, she wouldn't be here at all.

"Good point." Dagur admits while trying to think. "Are we okay, you and I, on that whole thing?" He asks and Heather looks at him like he should know the answer to that as he closes the cage.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Heather asks him.

"If there's one thing I've learned out here over the years, it's that I can only trust one person. And do you know who that is?" Dagur asks her. "Me. That's who I trust. He's so trustworthy. He's faithful. Tried and true that Dagur. So stop moving your mouth and causing more trouble! You know, your really giving the family a bad name." He informs her before leaving.

"Where are you, Hiccup?" Heather wonders.

-

Hiccup and Astrid are flying back to Viggo's ship to find some answers and learn whatever they can about him.

"We've been through this place before, Hiccup. They took everything when they left." Astrid tells him as they search the cages.

"You ever notice, Viggo never actually puts himself in danger? He fights with his intellect." Hiccup is able to tell. "Planning every move, accounting for every scenario. Take Johann and Heather."

"You think he knew Johann was giving us intelligence and played along?" Astrid asks.

"I think, at some point, he found out, and used him to manipulate us." Hiccup says and Toothless growls at something in another room. "Watcha you got there, bud?" He asks and sees a cloth hiding something.

Hiccup pulls it off and sees its a board with three characters.

"Maces and Talons." Hiccup sees. "The _Viking King_. That's supposed to be me, trying to save the prisoner." He tells Astrid.

"Who's the other one then?" Astrid asks.

"The Chief of the Marauders. If I had to guess, I'd say Viggo." Hiccup says and picks up the prisoner piece that's broken in half. "This piece? This is the _Prisoner_. Heather."

"It's almost like Viggo wanted you see this." Astrid says.

"It's a challenge from him to me. He's daring me to play." Hiccup assumes.

"Why did he break Heather's piece?" Astrid wonders.

"Because the prisoner dies in the end. The prisoner always dies." Hiccup says and sees he needs to save Heather, and he needs a perfect plan to do that.

-

"Hiccup, Maces and Talons! Does this mean-" Fishlegs asks as they bring the board back to the Edge.

"No, Fishlegs." Hiccup stops him, knowing where he's going.

"But, Maces and Talons was designed to test the abilities and decision making expertise of future chefs in the heat of battle." Fishlegs reminds him.

"Yeah, I'm not taking over as chef of Berk. Not now, or any time soon." Hiccup states since he has made no plans of returning to Berk for good. "Viggo left this for me. He wants me to play Maces and Talons with him." He epxlans.

"Viggo's here?" Tuffnut asks looking around.

"We got next!" Ruffnut yells, running up to the board.

"Guys, no, no. He's not here and we're not using the board. We're playing for real. With real people. Viggo is forcing my hand. He's making me play him for Heather's life." Hiccup explains to the two of them.

"What we need is a strategy." Snotlout says.

"We do, Snotlout. And that strategy has to be different from anything he's ever seen or tried." Hiccup tells them. "Otherwise, Heather won't stand a chance."

-

They're all later flying out to the Dragon Hunter home base with a plan at the dead of night.

"All right, remember guys, Viggo is a master of deception. We have to be one step ahead of him at all times or it's game over." Hiccup warns the group.

"Sounds a little to me like it's already game over." Tuffnut says.

"Yep, that was my interpretation." Ruffnut agrees when arrows come flying in and they fly to avoid them.

"Where are those coming from?" Fishlegs asks.

"Beneath The cloud cover. They must have ships down there." Astrid guesses.

"How did they know we were up here?" Fishlegs wonders when they suddenly see more light and turn to see Snotlout has Hookfang on fire, making him easily spotted.

"What?! I was chilly. Now I'm warm and toasty." Snotlout tells them as they keep avoiding the arrows.

"We must be getting close to the island." Hiccup says when the clouds move and they see all the tents and sites. "Viggo's base."

"Are you sure that's it? It looks kinda deserted." Fishlegs says when fire comes in almost hitting him. "And I stand corrected." He says and they see Typhoomerangs being used to attack them.

"He's using flipping Typhoomerangs as blowtorches!?" Snotlout asks as he avoids the flames.

"I thought you liked it toasty." Astrid mocks him.

"I like toast-y. Not toast-ed." Snotlout tells her as they avoid the flames.

"I have to say, you totally undersold this guy, Hiccup." Tuffnut tells him. "He's way more devious than..."

"Look out!" Hiccup says as they're about to get hit.

"Maybe we should turn back? Find a place to regroup?" Astrid suggests. "There's no way were getting through that."

"No. All this is just a distraction." Hiccup tells them.

"It's fire, Hiccup. Actual fire." Snotlout informs him.

"Gonna have to concur with that one." Tuffnut says as his head is on fire.

"What I mean is Viggo doesn't wants us to retreat. It just seems that way. He wants us to get past the fire and the arrows." Hiccup puts together. "He wants me to find Heather. And then his game really begins."

"Well, if he wants us to get through, he's got a funny way of showing it." Snotlout says, as he's avoiding the flames.

"He doesn't want us to get through, he wants us to go around and attack from the back." Hiccup explains to him.

"Oh, that sounds way better. But that's not what we're doing. Is it?" Snotlout supposes.

"Nope. We're going in this way." Hiccup says referring to the fire. "Now I know you think I'm nuts."

"Yes." Snotlout agrees.

"The fire from the Typhoomerangs is like a giant tornado. If we fly right into the eye of it, it'll be hot, but the fire won't touch us." Hiccup promises.

"Inside it? This whole plan sounds completely theoretical." Snotlout says.

"My fine sister and I have performed said feat of daring many times throughout the history of Nut." Tuffnut informs him.

"Yeah, for fun! It does work. As long as you don't panic while you're inside." Ruffnut assures them.

They go for it and all of them except for the twins and Hiccup panic as they fly through it.

As soon as the Typhoomerangs stop firing, the Hunters see them at the last second as they blast them away.

"You guys free the Typhoomerangs. I'm gonna go find Heather." Hiccup tells them and flies off.

-

Viggo's hut gets shaken from the impact of the dragons.

"They're here, I assume." Viggo guesses.

"Not the way you planned. They went through the fire right down the middle of it." Ryker informs his brother.

"Brilliant. Simply brilliant." Viggo compliments. "Night does know his dragons, I give him that."

"Are we going to do something? Most of the troops are on the other side of the island." Ryker reminds him.

"Come on now, big brother. What fun would a game be if saddled with an in inferior opponent?" Viggo asks.

"Whatever you say, little brother." Ryker says as Viggo leaves the tent and Dagur joins him.

"Uh, there's a rumor going around that the Dragon Riders broke through the Typhoomerangs." Dagur tells Viggo.

"You're sure about that?" Viggo asks.

"Yes, I'm thinking the four Typhoomerangs flying into the horizon are a pretty good indication." Dagur says as they look up to see their dragons flying off.

"Dagur, did you do what I told you to do with the prisoner?" Viggo asks, ignoring the dragons.

"Of course. But I'm still thinking-"

"Stop thinking. All thinking has been done. You simply need to do what you're told, follow orders." Viggo informs him. "Can you do that?" He asks while leaving and Ryker leaves the tent.

"You're the big brother, right?" Dagur asks Ryker.

"That I am." Ryker assures him.

"Don't you ever want to kick the living yak dung out of him?" Dagur wonders.

"Of course I do. And I could. Easily. But I don't."

"And why would that be?"

"He's my brother." Ryker reminds him while getting in his face. "Always remember that, Dagur." He says before walking off leaving Dagur to think about Heather.

-

Hiccup and Toothless we're searching for Heather when they happened to come across the Flightmare.

Hiccup walks towards it and takes his shield for protection as Toothless keeps the Hunters back as he finds the Flightmare and it's muzzled in a cage.

"What have they done to you?" Hiccup asks and knows they won't kill it, but Heather is a different story. "I'll be back." He promises as he makes his way to higher ground and finds her double blade axe near a cage.

"There she is." Hiccup says as he makes his way towards the cage and breaks the lock. "Heather, we gotta get out of here." He says and removes the cloak to reveal Viggo.

"Welcome, Night." Viggo greets him.

"Where's Shadow?" Hiccup asks.

"Bad news. She won't be joining us tonight." Viggo tells him. "But on the positive side, you've far exceeded my expectations. Good on you." He congratulated when dozens of Hunters come out of hiding and aim at the cage. "So many guards, so little time. But, please. I am enjoying this. I'll give you a head start."

"Why would you do that?" Hiccup asks, not trusting this guy.

"Because, I'm nothing if not a good sport. And if I didn't, the game would end here. And what fun would that be?" Viggo asks and Hiccup decides to take his chance to run from them.

"Okay, think, Hiccup, think. Why would he give you a head start? He knows we have...dragons." Hiccup stops as he comes face to face with dragon hunters holding the Flightmare in his direction.

Toothless makes it on top of a cage and growls at them.

"Thank Thor you're okay, bud." Hiccup says as Viggo catches up.

"There you are, Night. Didn't get as far as I imagined." Viggo says.

"Games over, Viggo." Hiccup tells him.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. Was I not a worthy adversary?" Viggo wonders. "Don't answer that. Your surrender speaks volumes."

"No one is surrendering." Hiccup tells him.

"All right, here's what I propose. Turn over what your friends stole from me, what has belonged to my tribe for centuries, and I will take serious thought to letting you and your friends go free." Viggo bargains.

"You're talking about the Dragon Eye." Hiccup sees.

"_Dragon Eye_. A fitting name. If you don't mind, I'll use that." Viggo says.

"Have it your way, Viggo." Hiccup says as he mounts Toothless. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

But before they could even get off the ground, they opened the Flightmare's muzzle to shoot mist at them, causing them to be paralyzed.

"You and your Night fury played into my hands. To be honest, I expected more." Viggo says as he approaches the two and reaches into his satchel and finds the Dragon Eye. "Hiccup Haddock the Third, Night Rider, I've enjoyed our time together. I do truly hope we are able to compete again." He says leaving the two statues.

-

In the tunnels, Dagur and two guards are leading Heather down.

"Wait. This doesn't seem right Viggo said-." One of the Hunters was saying when Dagur knocks them both out.

"News flash, I no longer care what Viggo has to say." Dagur informs them as he takes his axe and breaks the chains off of Heather, surprising her.

Dagur doesn't explain, but whistles and Windshear comes out of the tunnels.

"Windshear! You're okay." Heather says and runs to her dragon as Dagur walks off, leaving Heather confused.

-

After some time, hiccup and Toothless get free and see the tracks leading to Viggo are still fresh.

Viggo and Ryker are moving the Flightmare and Ryker is getting furious at how long it takes to move it.

"What are we doing? Let's kill it and move on!" Ryker states as Viggo approaches it with the Dragon Eye to do something.

Toothless starts charging his blasts and shoots a nearby Hunter.

"Viggo! Dragon Rider!" Ryker warns him.

"Just a moment more." Viggo says as the Dragon Eye is revealing something to him. "Release the Dragon." He tells them and the Dragon takes off.

"Viggo!" Hiccup call's out when the Flightmare comes at them and they fly to avoid getting frozen again.

"Accepting defeat is most difficult, but necessary, part of competition, Hiccup." Viggo informs him as they fly off.

Hiccup and Toothless take charging out as the Flightmare follows them and they meet up with the others.

"This isn't a very fun reunion." Tuffnut says as the Flightmare chases after them and freezes them.

The Flightmare starts attacking everyone in sight as it doesn't know what else to do.

"We need to get this thing out of here, back to its food trail." Hiccup says as it comes back at them when Heather comes flying up to them. "Heather?!" He asks.

"Don't hurt him, girl. We just need to scare if off." Heather tells Windshear as the three of them get it to fly off to its food trail and return to one another.

"Viggo had this whole thing figured out from start to finish." Heather tells Hiccup.

Hiccup gets angry at how easily manipulated he was to loose to this man and screams in anger and flies off to check on the other riders who seem okay.

"He got the Dragon Eye, didn't he?" Heather asks Hiccup who nods at her. "We will find a way to get it back. Besides, we left the Snow Wraith tooth back at the Edge, so he can't even use it."

"And he knows that." Hiccup tells her. "So why did he want it so badly?" He asks and knows this fight is far from over.

-

On Viggo's boat, he and Ryker are in his office with the Dragon Eye between them.

"Well, at least its decorative. Useless without the tooth, but decorative." Ryker says when Viggo slams his desk and a Terrible Terror shoots fire and it activates the Dragon Eye.

"When the Dragon Eye was constructed, the locking mechanism was given an emergency release. A filament, That could only be burned away by the glow of a Flightmare." Viggo informs his older brother. "Hiccup will come to know that his carelessness will cause every dragon on earth to be slaughtered and sold, including the ones he's already saved. And especially these other riders, those other ones, the one who rides a Stormcutter and the other Night Fury."

"You think they're working with each other?" Ryker asks his brother.

"I don't think they know the other group exists." Viggo guesses. "Both of them are working to free dragons and neither side knows anything about others doing the same."


	20. Unexpected ally

The team is back at the Edge and Hiccup is working on some new dragon armor to protect their dragons from the dragon arrows and Toothless doesn't care for it.

"Come on, bud, work with me here, please?" Hiccup asks of his dragon.

The two start making their way out of the stables and runs into Heather.

"Heather! Hey." Hiccup greets her. "So, what brings you here so early in the morning? You're going on a test flight with Windshear? Well, same here. With Toothless, of course."

"You're going on a recon flight. Alone, with no backup. We talked about this a dozen times." Heather puts together and reminds him.

"I know, I just didn't want to wake you. It's no big deal. Really." Hiccup assures her.

"Hiccup, it's been months since the whole Viggo.."

"Fiasco?" Hiccup interrupts her.

"I was gonna say experience. You had to stop obsessing over this guy." Heather reminds him. "You're gonna wear yourself thin looking for him who doesn't want to be found."

"I'm fine. Besides, maybe Viggo isn't out there, but his Hunters surely are." Hiccup reminds her.

"And we know they won't say anything." Heather says and sees he's not stopping. "Look, if you're going, at least let me go with you."

"Fine." Hiccup says and waits for her to leave before turning to his dragon. "Okay, it's now or never."

-

The two fly off and Toothless still wouldn't wear the armor as they took off.

"When Heather and Windshear finds out you're not wearing your armor, I am not covering for you." Hiccup warns his dragon as they fly out. "But with all that armor on, would we be able to do this?" He asks as they start flying and doing their tricks throughout the air.

"Man, that new tail is awesome." Hiccup states as they continue to fly trough the air and Toothless takes a dip into the water, causing Hiccup to get soaked and Toothless laughs at his rider.

While flying, they come across a Dragon Hunter ship.

"Okay, bud. Let's get a closer look." Hiccup says as they fly up to the ship and see they're all unconscious and smoke coming from the ship.

Hiccup and Toothless land and sees them.

"Looks like a dragon hit the best of them." Hiccup guesses as Toothless growls. "Yeah, let's get out of here." He says, agreeing when the Hunters start getting up and they fly off.

"Fire!" One of the Hunters say and they start shooting their dragons root arrows and one was able to hit Toothless.

"Come on, bud!" Hiccup tells Toothless and see an island coming up. "We can make that." He encouraged Toothless as they drop onto the island.

"I got you, Toothless. I'm right here." Hiccup assures his dragon and sees the arrow stuck inside of him and pulls it out and Toothless cries in pain. "I know. We just gotta wait or out, bud." He tells him and he doesn't know how long that will be and the hunters are coming for them.

-

Hiccup just takes Toothless and starts dragging him until they reach a cave that they'll be able to hide in for now.

"I'm sorry, bud. I am so sorry I got us into this." Hiccup apologizes as Toothless drops and isn't feeling well because of the arrow.

Hiccup runs to the entrance of the cave and sees the hunters approaching.

"Why didn't I listen? Why didn't I...what's wrong with me?" Hiccup asks himself and Toothless cries in pain. "Shhh! Toothless, please. You stay still and keep quiet. I'm gonna buy us some time. I'll be back." He promises and quickly covered up the cave with some bushes.

Hiccup runs and sees the hunters moving towards the cave and throws a stone over them and into some nearby bushes and they run towers it. He sighs, seeing they're distracted when he suddenly steps on a twig, causing a noise.

"There he is! Get him." They call and Hiccup goes off running away from them. But as he runs, he looks and sees he was knocked unconscious suddenly and so was the second one.

Hiccup keeps running, not wanting to see what knocked them out as the more hunters he finds, the more get knocked out.

"Gather up more men, and check the caves." Their leader tells them. "We're not leaving until we find the rider and that Night Fury after what they did to the ship." He states.

"What we did?" Hiccup asks, completely confused to what he could mean but keeps running.

As he runs, someone else was helping by conserving his tracks.

-

Hiccup makes his way back to the cave and sees Toothless is resting.

"You think you can stand up, bud?" Hiccup asks him and Toothless tries his best but he drops to the floor.

"Keep searching!" He hears the hunters say and Toothless growls out more and knows they've been spotted.

"Okay, if they want you, Toothless, they're going have to go through me." Hiccup says and gets his shield out, ready to take them when he heard grunting and slamming.

He just looks confused as the bushes start getting moves and Hiccup sees the last person he thought he'd ever see.

"Hello, Hiccup."

"Dagur?" Hiccup asks, seeing him move closer. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He warns and Toothless growls before dropping again.

"Easy, Hiccup." Dagur says as Hiccup goes in to hit him. "Hiccup, I'm not here to hurt you." He assures him and drags him out of the cave where Hiccup sees he knocked out the hunters.

"You did that?" Hiccup asks.

"Plenty of time to answer all of your Hiccupy questions later." Dagur promises. "Right now, we need to move your dragon before these guys wake up. Or you can handle them yourself, hmm?"

-

The two of them are moving Toothless and the dragon doesn't trust Dagur as much as Hiccup does.

"Oh, come on. If I was gonna hurt you, don't you think I would've done it by now?" Dagur asks them.

"I don't know. You're pretty crafty." Hiccup states.

"Crafty. Thank you, Hiccup. I appreciate the kind words." Dagur says. "They were kind, right?" He wonders.

"You see so weird." Hiccup says when Dagur throws a knife over Hiccup's shoulder and he looks to see a dragon trap he springed. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome." Dagur replies with a smiles as they keep moving Toothless. "Dragons are heavier than they look."

They keep moving Toothless and they reach a waterfall with a long drop.

"I knew it! What was I thinking?" Hiccup asks himself.

"Hiccup, it's not a trap. Look." Dagur assures him and Hiccup looks and sees a cave hidden behind the waterfall and now sees Dagur's plan.

They keep dragging toothless into the cave and had a close call with the ledge where Dagur saved him.

"Sorry about that. I should've warned you about that." Dagur sees and gets back up.

"I have officially stepped into an alternate archipelago." Hiccup states, trying to see what Dagur is trying to do.

-

Dagur leads them into the cave and lights a fire for them and Hiccup sees this is where Dagur has been these past few months.

"Yeah, I tend to have a lot of time on my hands these days." Dagur says as he heads to Toothless and starts helping the dragon. "Yes, answers. I did tell you those were en route. Well, after I came to the unfortunate realization that I was completely expendable while part of the Dragon hunters and under the command of Viggo Grimborn...oh, I would have lived to have seen the look on his face as I drove a..." he then interrupts himself and calms down. "Have you ever tried that? It's cathartic. I used to think the only deep breaths were the last ones." He says before laughing. "How's Heather?"

Hiccup knows he can easily say she's okay, but that could encourage Dagur to return to the Edge as he knows where it is. But he could lie and give him some time to see how Heather would feel about meeting him again, considering the last time she almost died in his hand and the other time was when they almost killed him and they learned she was his brother. Then the time before that, he attacked her home and killed her family.

"Yeah, you know, she's okay." Hiccup says, knowing that'll assure him.

"Good. And her dragon? What was it, Windshower?" Dagur asks.

"Windshear." He corrects.

"Right. Anyway, after that learning experience, I drifted at sea for quite some time, then came across here. Been alone on this island for months. It's amazing what a near death experience and hours upon hours, upon hours of alone time will do to the mind, body and soul, Hiccup. I mean, you should try it sometime." He says and Hiccup chuckles. "What's so funny?"

"You. This. I mean, I knew you were crazy, but this takes the cake." Hiccup tells him.

"I AM NOT...crazy." Dagur starts shouting but calms himself down. "But I understand your skepticism."

"Dagur, why in the name of Thor should I believe a word you say?" Hiccup asks him.

"You shouldn't. I don't deserve the benefit of the doubt." Dagur says as he throws more logs into the fire and looks at Toothless. "He doesn't look so good."

"He's never been hit with one of these. I don't know, maybe...maybe Night Furies react differently?" Hiccup guesss.

"I never liked those dragon root arrows. Seemed like cheating to me. And I hate cheaters." Dagur states. "There's an antidote for this, though. I saw Ryker and his men make it. I can give you the ingredients and together make the antidote to save your glorious Night Fury. Unless you want to take the chance of him surviving this on his own?" He asks and Hiccup looks at Toothless and knows he needs to help when Dagur passs him a sword. "You might need that. They're still out there."

-

They're in the forest, looking whole they left Toothless in the cave for his protection knowing he won't be found there.

"Butterweed. That's the first ingredient." Dagur says as he's sniffing a flower. "Looks like this, but darker."

"So, what caused this new Dagur?" Hiccup asks him.

"I told you. Near death experience and a lot of time to think." Dagur explains.

"About what?" Hiccup asks.

"When you only care about yourself, life is simple. Your actions are clear. Consequences?" He laughs maniacally. "Who cares? When that changes..."

"Heather?"

"She's blood, Hiccup. And makes me closer to her than you and her." Dagur says while winking when he finds the flower. But when he reaches for it, a Changewing and Dagur jumps in shock.

Before Hiccup could do anything to stop it, Dagur starts whistling into his hands and the Changewing leaves them.

"What?" Hiccup asks, looking to Dagur.

"A little something I picked up along the way." Dagur explains.

-

They keep walking in search of the second ingredient.

"Okay, now we need the branch of a Fire Fern. It's the long, red plant underneath the big Elm tree." Dagur explains and Hiccup finds it. "Just make sure you don't..." he was gonna warn but was too late as Hiccup screams, "touch it with your bare hands." He finishes and picks it up with his sword.

"Thanks for the early warning." Hiccup mocks.

"I gotta work on that." Dagur says as he drags Hiccup to the lake and puts his hand in the water. "Keep it in the water. Hey! Next ingredient, fresh water." He says as he takes some water in a mug. "So, you wanna tell me why you're out here on your own?" He asks.

"Not really. Let's just say you aren't the only one who changed after Viggo Grimborn." Hiccup tells him.

"That stuff can kill you from the inside, Hiccup. Revenge. Anger. Obsession. Trust me, I know. It can make you do things you never thought you were capable of. Causes you to take chances, make mistakes. If that doesn't end you, it'll sway away at you slowly." Dagur warns him and he takes his hand out of the water.

-

The last ingredient, purple oleander. Which confuses Hiccup since the blue stuff is poisonous to dragons.

"Blue Oleander can kill a dragon. How is purple any different?" Hiccup asks.

"Well, for one thing-"

"Please don't say, it's purple."

"I was going to say _nature_. It's always a great mystery, Hiccup." Dagur tells him. "Take Heather and I. We're brother and sister, and yet we're very different."

"I must be out of my mind to go along with any of this." Hiccup says and climbs up the rock pile as a Dragon Hunter comes and starts attacking Dagur and he fights him off.

Hiccup grabs the flower and is shocked to see him fight then and let them live.

"I told you, I've changed." Dagur says when they hear a crossbow and Dagur moves Hiccup as he gets shot. "Huh. Stuck right in there, look at the way it's..." he falls unconscious as the archer charges at them.

Hiccup quickly grabs the mace and attacks the Dragon Hunter in the chest, knocking him unconscious. Shocking Hiccup just exactly what he did.

-

Hiccup brings Dagur back to the cave and mixes the ingredients after bandaging up Dagur and he later wakes up.

"Whoo those were some crazy dreams." Dagur says and sees what Hiccup did. "You...did this? For me? I don't know what to say. I mean, nobody has ever..."

"Dagur, it was the least I could do. Think of it as payback for everything." Hiccup states as the ingredients states fizzing. "I was just about to give it to him."

Dagur walks up and sees its not complete. "Needs more purple. Definitely." He says and adds more of the flower and it goes purple.

Hiccup takes it and moves it to Toothless and gives him some hoping he was right to trust Dagur.

Suddenly, Toothless states freaking out and roaring uncontrollably.

"Toothless? You okay?" Hiccup asks and Toothless drops unconscious again. "What did you do?" He asks Dagur.

"I didn't know, you have to believe me." Dagur tells him and Hiccup charges at him and the two of them fall out of The cave and into the water.

They crawl out and run into the Dragon Hunters where they're captured

"We're going to find that dragon. It's only a matter of time." Their leader tells them. "Why don't you make it easier on everyone?"

The two of them aren't talking obviously.

"Maybe this will burn a hole in your memory." The leader says and pulls Hiccup towards a fire with a mark brand inside.

"Now you'll be part of the Dragon Hunters forever." One of them say and moves it close to Hiccup's face.

"Okay! Enough! I'll take you to the Night Fury." Dagur promises.

"No, Dagur!" Hiccup tells him as they drop the maker.

"Take a few more men just in case." Their leader tells them as Dagur runs to the fire and uses it to burn the ropes and takes the men down.

"Come on, hurry!" Hiccup tells him and Dagur sees more men approaching.

"Sorry, brother. You'd just slow me down." Dagur says and runs off and Hiccup can't believe he did that. Just when he was learning to trust him.

"Well come back for Dagur later, put an end to his miserable life. This one will lead us to the Night Fury." Their leader promises and take Hiccup to their ship.

"Last chance. You want help that dragon? Help yourself?" Their leader asks Hiccup.

"I'll die before I talk." Hiccup promises.

"Then die you shall. Viggo will see to that." He promises when Toothless comes flying in and blast the guards and Hiccup sees Dagur is on him.

"What?" Hiccup asks seeing Dagur and he's terrified as Toothless does most of the work and Dagur stops him from getting hit again.

"Easy, Dragon!" Dagur tells Toothless, not used to flying as Toothless makes quick work of the hunters and meets back up with Hiccup.

"It's good to see you, too, bud." Hiccup says as Dagur releases him from his restraints.

"I have no idea how you stomach that." Dagur tells him.

"It's good to have you back, bud. Now, what do you say we show him how it's done?" Hiccup asks Toothless as they fly off to their ship and runs everyone off of it.

-

They lead them as, in and their leader runs into the Changewing from earlier.

By the time they return, they see Dagur is gone.

"Where'd he go?" Hiccup wonders but knows he isn't a threat. "We seriously owe him one. Maybe he'll get to Viggo before we do." He tells Toothless and they fly home.

Unknowingly, Dagur snuck onto the Dragon Hunter's boat and confiscated it.

"Hiccup! Tell Heather I'm coming for her!" Dagur call's out wanting to reunite with his sister, but Hiccup was too far gone to hear him. "I still wonder why he came back when I swear I saw Toothless flying around this morning." He wonders to himself and walks to the deck.

-

Earlier that morning, there was another dragon rider with the idea of going on a recon flight while rescue dragons.

This Rider was indeed flying another Night Fury that resembled Toothless by a lot, but this one was a female and had streaks of red on her spikes and across her eyebrows.

Her rider had her face covered with a groncle iron mask that covered everything except her hair that was mud brown.

The Night Fury growls at her rider knowing they're gonna be in trouble for leaving.

"Don't worry, Scarlett. We're just on a normal flight. Mom can't get mad at us for that." The Rider tells her Dragon when they come up across the Dragon Hunter ship. "Dragon hunters."

Scarlett growls at seeing the shop, as they're not friends to these people.

"Yeah, I despise them as well, girl." The Rider agrees with her and the two go flying in.

"Scarlett, multiple blasts, take them down." The Rider tells her dragon and she blasts every single Hunter just as they were spotted.

"Okay, Girl. Let's free these dragons." She says as they land and head into the lower deck and lets every dragon free and starts beating back up.

"See? We even saved some friends. There's no way she can be mad now." The Rider tells Scarlett before quickly removing her mask to reveal her face and her forest green eyes and braided brown hair that goes over her back down to her hips with the mask removed.

The rider was Hala Haddock; lost twin sister of Hiccup Haddock.


	21. Buffalord gal

Heather and Windshear were flying out on their normal routine to check out for any Dragon Hunter ships.

"Alpha quadrant chescks out. Nothing but water and-" Heather was saying when Windshear interrupts her and Heather pulls out her spyglass and sees there's a ship that has no reason for being there.

Let's go get a closer look, girl." Heather says and the two land on the ship.

Heather and Windshear search the ship and can't see much because of the fog and see nobody on board.

"Abandoned. Let's get out of where." Heather says when they hear someone belowdeck screaming.

Heather pulls out her axe and walks in to see what that noise was and is followed by Windshear.

"Ugh, what is that smell? Windshear, torch." Heather says and Windshear lights the torch and they walk down to see hundreds of Vikings dead.

One of them grabs Heather's hand and scratches her arm and the two run out onto the deck.

Windshear looks to Heather worried about her Rider.

"I'm okay, girl. It was just a scratch." Heather assures her dragon before they leave the ship.

-

Back at the Edge, Hiccup was working on new gear and places on glasses as Toothless sparks the metal.

"Interesting material. Seems organic in nature." Fishlegs comments on the glasses.

"Deathsong amber, hammered thin. They're strong enough to stare straight into the eyes of a Flightmare." Hiccup tells him.

"Fascinating. May I?" Fishlegs asks and Hiccup hands them to him.

"I insist." Hiccup says when they see Heather is back. "Heather, you okay?"

Heather doesn't answer and Hiccup sees her face and starts to worry.

"What's wrong? Did you see something on patrol?" Hiccup asks.

"I found a fishing boat." Heather tells him. "It was just drifting out there. We went to take a closer look. But what we found inside it was...bodies. Their skin were all pale and green. We got out of there as fast as we could."

"Hiccup, pale green skin? I hate to be the harbinger of doom, but..." Fishlegs says.

"I know what you're thinking, Fishlegs, but-" Hiccup was saying but Fishlegs says it.

"The Scourge Of Odin."

"Okay! Let's not just throw that word around too loosely, because-"

"Wait, back it up. Did he say Scourge of Odin?" Snotlout asks.

"Yes, but there's no reason to panic." Hiccup tells him.

"Right, no need to panic. The Scourge of Odin. Just the plague that tore through the archipelago centuries ago, wiping out entire Viking villages! Yeah, why would we worry about that?" Snotlout asks as he starts to panic and covers his mouth. "Quick, Hookfang! I need a mask for my mouth."

"Well, that's a long time coming." Tuffnut says.

"Very funny. I already feel short of breath." Snotlout says.

"We must burn our clothes!" Ruffnut tells them.

"No, no, no, no, no. No need to panic. I've got the answer." Tuffnut assures everyone. "Wait for it. Bing!" He says and pulls out moldy bread.

"Moldy bread?" Astrid asks.

"Once I had a really bad cold. So, I decided to eat some moldy bread. So, I decided to eat some moldy bread. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. But, boom! Instantly cured." Tuffnut explains to them. "You scoff now, but one day, science will recognize my genius. They called old crazy uncle Henrik crazy."

"He is crazy, Tuffnut. He married his own beard." Ruffnut reminds her twin.

"Okay, bad example. Let's go with your clothes burning plan." Tuffnut agrees. "We'll keep them on you, just to be sure. Barf! Belch!"

"Let's not jump to conclusions and set ourselves on fire, eat moldy bread or hyperventilate." Hiccup tells the team as Snotlout is breathing into a mug.

"Snotlout, you can't catch the Scourge of Odin by breathing it in." Fishlegs informs him.

"I knew that." Snotlout says and tosses the mug.

"There hasn't been a single case of the Scourge for centuries. Plus, Heather got out of there right away." Hiccup says as he walks up to Heather. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Heather assures him.

-

Later that night, Hiccup was finishing up some advancements to the dragonfly when Windshear comes in and scares Hiccup and his sleeping dragon.

"Windshear?" Hiccup asks as she runs out and Hiccup follows her into their hut and sees Heather out of bed. "Heather?"

"Hiccup? What's going on?" Heather asks, sounding tired as Hiccup approaches her.

"Well, I was finishing up at the forge and Windshear seemed worried, so." Hiccup explains when Heather starts coughing and Hiccup sees that her hand is scratched.

Hiccup brought in Fishlegs and he looks over Heather as Hiccup just paces.

"Hiccup, will you stop the pacing?" Heather asks of him and Fishlegs brings Hiccup out of the hut.

"You saw that scratch, right?" Fishlegs asks him.

"She said it's nothing." Hiccup says but doesn't think that's the truth.

"It's not nothing. All the signs are there." Fishlegs tells him.

"Okay, lets assume for a second that you're right. What's the cure?" Hiccup asks him.

"I'm not sure. The only thing I know is that the Scourge moves swiftly, overtaking its victims in less than three moons." Fishlegs informs him on what he does know.

"One Moon has already passed."

"I know. Snotlout is on his way back from Berk with Gothi's notes. Hopefully they'll tell us something more." Fishlegs tells him as Snotlout returns and Hiccup snatches the notes.

"Look, in Gothi's notes, there's a cure for the Scourge of Odin." Hiccup says and keeps reading. "A green solution made from the saliva of a Buffalord dragon."

To that news, Fishlegs starts to look worried.

"What?" Hiccup asks.

"It's just..."

"There aren't anymore Buffalords." Astrid breaks to him. "They were all hunted to extinction during the Scourge's last outbreak."

"No...there is one." Heather says and they look to her as she tries standing up. "One of the islands we explored a while back. Me and...Windshear spot it..." She explains before she faints and Hiccup catches her.

They start looking through the maps of everywhere that they have traveled and Heather's drawings on the dragons inhabited there.

"We found it, Hiccup." Fishlegs says as they see where Heather ran into it.

"We have a location. Let's hope to Odin it's still there." Hiccup prays.

-

The team all leave and Astrid offered to stay with Heather while they all left to the island.

Hiccup followed Heather's maps and make it to the island and see nothing on the island.

"Now, these dragons were supposedly hunted to extinction. So if there are any left, they will have developed a wariness towards humans." Hiccup warns them.

"Which means we have to move quickly." Fishlegs adds.

"And remember, we have less than two moons to find this dragon and bring the cure back to the Edge." Hiccup finishes.

They all start looking and they've spent the whole day searching and have come up with nothing.

Hiccup and Toothless we're flying and landed to get some water when Toothless smells something and starts following it.

Hiccup follows his dragon and finds a pile of dragon dung. He gets the rest of the gang to their location and Fishlegs looks over it.

"Large size. Unusual coloration." Fishlegs says and dips his hand into it and smells it. "Vegetarian diet. Not the remnants of any dragon I'm familiar with. And I know my dragon droppings. It's fresh, Hiccup. Last couple of hours, this dragon is still somewhere on this island."

"And might I add, a very distinctive bouquet. Sore of herbal. It's quite nice." Tuffnut says as he smells the dung.

"Ew." Snotlout comments as Fishlegs does the same. "Double ew."

"Well, if it's here, I think I might know how we can find it." Hiccup says as he pulls out a sack. "This dragon tracking equipment. Now, it's not field tested, but it's worth a shot." He says and pulls out Flightmare algae and drops it to reveal the tracks of the Buffalord. "Hopefully, a dragon this large doesn't move too fast."

They start following the tracks trough the island until the tracks run out.

"Now what?" Snotlout asks.

"It must have taken to the air." Hiccup guesses and pulls out a magnifying glass to look closer and finds dragon scales. "This way. Let's move!"

They keep walking until the morning sun comes out and Hiccup puts the glasses on to see past the glare.

"Nothing! How could there still be nothing?" Snotlout asks.

"No, not nothing. Look closer." Hiccup says and passes the glasss to Snotlout and he sees the dragon.

"A Buffalord. Alive!" Snotlout cheers and accidentally moves the glasses and gets hit by the sun rays.

Hiccup approaches the dragon slowly and cautiously.

"You guys distract it, and I'll get its saliva." Hiccup tells them.

"Be careful m Hiccup. We know nothing about this dragon." Fishlegs reminds him.

"Ageeed. But we need to make this quick. We're running out of time." Hiccup says as they only have today to save Heather.

He approaches the dragon as it's eating and everyone runs as it yawns at them.

Hiccup gets sone of its saliva in a container but sees it quickly dries up.

What do we do now?" Fishlegs asks him.

"We rope him and take him back to Dragon's Edge." Hiccup tells them and they start roping him and Toothless purrs to comfort it.

"It's remarkably docile for a dragon of its size, almost yak-like." Fishlegs tells them.

"No wonder it was so easily hunted." Snotlout mocks the dragon. "You gotta toughen up there, Buff."

"Aww, he's kind of cute." Ruffnut comments on him.

"Hiccup, can we keep him? I promise I'll walk him and feed him and stuff." Tuffnut promises. "We already know his poop doesn't smell. And he doesn't even act like it. Not like Ruffnut, who acts like her poop doesn't smell."

"We need to get him back to Heather." Hiccup tells them as they start to leave and the Buffalord starts to follow them.

As they start flying further away from the island, the Buffalord starts to inflate and spikes coming out of his side.

"Guys? I think something's up with the Buff." Snotlout says as they all avoid the spikes and the Buffalord starts spraying fire around him and breaks the rope.

"I knew I shouldn't have told him to toughen up. Me and my big mouth." Snotlout admits as they release the Buffalord as he returns to the island and goes calm again.

"Okay, what was that about?" Snotlout asks.

"He appears to be fine, so long as he's on his island." Fishlegs guesses.

"If we can't take the Buffalord to Heather, bring Heather to the Buffalord." Hiccup says and sends a Terror Mail to the Edge for Astrid.

-

It took her a while, but Astrid made it with Heather and Hiccup carries her as she's getting weaker.

"Just rest. We're gonna beat this." Hiccup promises her. "You just have to keep fighting, and hold on." He says as he places her near the Buffalord. "You need to stay with us. I can't imagine a world without you in it."

Hiccup makes it back to the Buffalord and takes its saliva and quickly makes it back to Heather and nothing's happening.

"Maybe it takes some time for the antidote to work." Fishlegs suggests.

Windshear purrs and places her head hear her rider, worried as Toothless is comforting her himself.

"It says the green solution will cure the Scourge." Fishlegs says and Hiccup sees what's wrong.

"The saliva is clear. What does to mean green?" Hiccup asks and Astrid sees the twins eating the Buffalord's food.

"What are you two dumb bells doing?" Astrid asks.

"Hey, people deal with stress differently, okay?" Ruffnut informs her.

"And we're eating what the Buffalors eats, because, Hey, who doesn't want sweet smelling droppings?" Tuffnut asks and they watch as their saliva starts turning green as they're eating it.

"Wait, Hiccup..." Fishlegs call's and Hiccup sees it.

"The herbs. It must be what the Buffalord eats, mixed with its saliva that crates The antidote." Hiccup pulls together.

"Which would Stand to reason why it wouldn't leave the island. It can't be away from the herbs it eats." Fishlegs adds.

"So we just need it to eat the herbs to create the green solution." Hiccup finishes and looks to Heather who's looking worse by the minute. "Hang in there, Heather. Just a little longer please."

Snotlout starts to lead the Buffalord to the small field of herbs.

"Come on, you big Buff. You worked up a healthy appetite trying to kill is earlier. So eat!" Snotlout tells him.

"Come on. Keep going. Eat it up." Hiccup says and they see its turning green when a net is fired and wraps the Buffalord up and they look to see the Dragon Hunters.

"Viggo!" Hiccup shouts, seeing him as his men surround the dragon.

"Hello, Hiccup. Thank you so very much for this gift." Viggo tells him. "I do apologize that you won't be able to use it to save your friend."

"But How? There's no trace of this island anywhere. How did he find it?" Fishlegs asks.

"Who cares? We've been dying for a little action." Snotlout says as they take to the air.

"Let's make this count, bud." Hiccup says as they fly in and start attacking them to free the Buffalord and they try to hit them.

"Hiccup, I can't get a clean shot." Snotlout tells him as the twins are taken down.

"Pull up, riders. We can't risk hurting the Buffalord." Hiccup tells them. "Viggo, release that dragon. You have no idea what you're doing."

"Oh, I beg to differ, my dear Hiccup. I'm keenly aware of my actions. This dragon is wsceedingly unique. It will elicit a considerable bounty on the open market. You should have well enough alone, Hiccup. My fishing boat was no place for you or any of your riders." Viggo informs him.

"Your fishing boat?" Hiccup asks as they realize he placed the boat there for them to find the Buffalord.

"It's simple, really. Supply and demand. I knew where to get the supply, if I could only generate the demand." Viggo says and looks to Heather who's clinging on to life.

"You're a monster!" Fishlegs states.

"Fishlegs, I'm shocked. I'd have thought you were above name calling. Monster? No. Savvy businessman? Indeed." Viggo replies.

"And what if the dragon was extinct?" Hiccup asks of him.

"I tend not to dwell on the _what if's_, my boy. Leaves you barren." Viggo informs him.

"What are we waiting for? Let's take this psycho out already!" Snotlout says and Hiccup gets ready to blast him white Ryler raises a sword to the dragon's head.

"I would think twice about your actions, Hiccup." Viggo states.

"And your profits?" Hiccup asks.

"Like I said, business is business. This? Oh, it's a loss I'm willing to incur. Question is, are you?" Viggo asks him and once again looks to Heather who's shuttering.

"Okay, Viggo. You win, take him. But leave us with what we came here for, the Scourge antidote. Buffalord saliva. I'm not leaving without it." Hiccup promises him. "That's a loss I'm _not_ willing to take."

"No..Hiccup...don't do this...not for me.." Heather begs of him weakly.

"Do we have a deal? Or are we both leaving here empty handed? Your call." Hiccup tells Viggo.

Viggo decides to allow it and calls off Ryker as Hiccup takes the saliva.

"I've truly missed our time together, Hiccup. My brother leaves something to be desired in the repartee department." Viggo says as Hiccup doesn't even face him and looks angry. "My boy, don't look so morose. It takes all the fun out of it. All's well that ends well." He says as Hiccup takes the antidote to Heather.

As soon as she takes it they see it work as the color returns to her face and she is able to stand up and hugs Windshear as she's happy her Rider is going to be okay.

"I'm afraid our time must end, Hiccup. We will continue our contest in due time." Viggo promises him and leaves with the Buffalord.

"He won't get far. Let's go after him." Tuffnut says.

"No. Stand down. We agreed to let him leave the island with the dragon. And tha exactly what we're gonna do." Hiccup tells them.

-

On the Dragon Hunter ship, Viggo is watching the island and is expecting to come in.

"The beast has been secured in the transport ship." Ryker tells Viggo.

"Excellent. A bit disappointing. The again, he is a man of his word. Something to admire about that." Viggo comments on Hiccup when the ship starts coming apart as the Buffalord is tearing it apart and setting it on fire.

"What's it doing?" Ryker asks.

"Hiccup!" Viggo realizes as he knew Hiccup must've known this would happen. "Release it! Release the beast!" He tells the men as the Buffalord flies off and they set it free as it flies off and the ship begins to sink.

The Dragon returns to the island and the riders see he's going to be okay.

"Well, there's only one thing left to do." Hiccup says as they fly off to find the fishing boat.

-

"There do I see my father, my mother, and my brothers and my sisters. They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla where the brave shall live forever." Heather says as they all shoot a flaming arrow, and watch as it starting to burn Viggo's ship down and they know they're safe as everyone flies back to the Edge, leaving Hiccup and Heather.

"What are you thinking about?" Heather asks him.

"This might be just the beginning." Hiccup tells her. "Something Viggo said about knowing where the _supply_ was. You don't think he could have unlocked the Dragon Eye, do you?"

"How could he have done that? He doesn't have a Snow Wraith key." Heather reminds him.

"Well, he found the Buffalord on his own. And we need to find out how." Hiccup replies.

"Thanks for going through all this for me." Heather says to him with a smile on her face.

"You'd have done the same for me in a heartbeat." Hiccup reminds her.

"I can't imagine a world without you in it, either." She admits and the couple flies off back home to come up with a way to stop Viggo.


	22. Tone death

The team are on a few islands searching for a sneaky Dragon Hunter they can't seem to catch.

"He comes in, transfers his cargo, and slips under the cover of darkness. Very mysterious." Fishlegs tells them.

"Very boring. Can we get to it?" Snotlout asks him and they fly off in their groups to their islands. "So, I need you to put in a good word for me, Hiccup."

"What?" Hiccup asks him, wondering who he's talking about.

"Listen, I know Astrid's been dying to approach me but her fear's got her scurred." Snotlout tells him.

"Yeah, I don't think Astrid gets scurred, Snotlout." Hiccup informs him. "Besides, I'm not sure you're ready for a woman like Astrid." He says as they fly off.

-

Heather and the twins fly out and see the Dragon Hunters bass.

"I think we should move in slowly, preserve the element of..." Heather was saying when the two of them just fly in.

The twins find a egg and they're spotted by the Hunters and they start moving out.

Heather calls for everyone to return and they see the Hunters getting rid of the egg from a catapult.

"Get ready, guys." Heather says as they shoot it and everyone flies at it and everyone passes it and Heather tries to grab it and misses.

"No!" Heather cries as she sees the egg about to fall off the cliff when Hiccup flies and catches it.

"Well, that was fun." Hiccup says with the egg in hand. "Hey, I've got an idea, how about we get this back to the Edge, safely?" He suggests and they fly off.

-

The next morning after returning to the Edge and bringing the egg to the dragon nursery, they're working out what kind of dragon is inside of it as Hiccup goes through the notes on all the dragons he and Heather have encountered.

"It's none of the dragons we have come across." Hiccup says as he closes his version of the _Book of Dragons_.

"Well, someone certainly has their own ideas on what it is." Tuffnut says as chicken lays on the egg.

"Look who's feeling motherly. Aren't you, little chicken? Give me a kiss." Tuffnut says and chicken bites his finger. "Ow! Easy, pal, I'm on your side."

Fishlegs and Hiccup laugh at that. "If you're gonna hatch that egg, I think you're gonna need a little bit bore power than that, chicken." Fishlegs tells the animal.

"Don't listen to him, chicken. Haters gonna hate, Hatcher's gotta hatch." Tuffnut says.

"We should check the Dragon Eye notes again, just to be sure." Hiccup says.

"Okay, but I didn't see anything about eggs or hatchlings." Fishlegs says and the two look away.

Chicken keeps laying on the egg and Tuffnut sees its staring to hatch. "Guys?" He calls out.

"Not now, Tuff." Hiccup tells him.

"Okay." Tuffnut says and watches as it continues to hatch and the cracking gets their attention.

"Tuffnut!" Hiccup shouts.

"Why didn't you say something?" Fishlegs asks him.

"Really?" Tuffnut asks as they keep watching the egg starting to hatch. "Kinda makes you wonder what came first, the chicken, or the chicken."

The egg then explodes and they see s small light orange dragon with two thorns on his head.

"What is that?" Fishlegs asks.

"It looks familiar, but I can't place it." Hiccup says looking as the dragon starts to wake up.

The dragon starts purring for a second before it starts screeching as loud as possible, scaring the other dragons.

"Oh, no! No! No! Stop! Stop!" Tuffnut cries as all of the dragons inside the nursery end up leaving as if they're scared.

"I liked him better when he was inside the egg." Fishlegs admits as he doesn't seem to be stopping.

As night hits, it's still screeching at the top of its lungs.

"Can someone please shut that thing up?!" Snotlout asks of them.

"It probably needs it's mother. Poor thing, all by itself." Heather guesses since some of the dragons they've come across have acted the same after hatching, but not many.

"I got it!" Tuffnut says.

"What? What is it?" Hiccup asks.

"Garffiljord." Tuffnut says.

"What?" Astrid asks.

"It's name." Tuffnut explains to them.

"Who cares what we call it? It's not like it's listening to us anyway." Ruffnut states.

"Chicken cares. I mean, it did come out of her." Tuffnut protests.

"Tuffnut, she didn't actually...forget it." Hiccup says, not wanting to get into it with him with this dragon crying.

-

They bring the dragon to the stalls for the night and it's not going to be shutting up anytime soon.

"How are the dragons gonna sleep with this little guy in here?" Fishlegs asks.

"It's them or us, Fishface. But, please, feel free to babysit that thing if you want to." Snotlout says as he stroms out.

"Maybe I should stay with it." Heather suggests and Hiccup doesn't like the sound of that.

"Look, if we shut these doors, plug our ears, and sleep under our beds, we just might be able to catch a few winks." Hiccup suggests as the screeches get louder. "Okay, let's just get out of here before our heads explode."

They start walking out when chicken walks over to the baby.

"She wants to stay with Garffiljorg." Tuffnut says as the chicken clucks and the baby calms down.

"He stopped crying." Hiccup says.

"That's because chicken sang to him. Didn't you hear that?" Tuffnut asks of him. "Oh, the pipes on that chicken."

Chicken clucks more when the dragon baby spits out something and it hardens around the chicken and Tuffnut saves chicken.

"Bad dragon!" Tuffnut tells Garffikorg.

"Hiccup, does this seem familiar to you?" Heather asks Hiccup. "The amber cocoon, singing dragon..."

"It's a baby Deathsong." Hiccup realizes.

"What's a Deathsong?" Snotlout asks. "No, wait, I don't want to know."

-

Hiccup has been spending most of the night and morning finding a way of cutting chicken out of the amber with Tuffnut crying hysterically.

"Tuffnut, could you please help me out?" Hiccup asks of him.

"And do what?" Tuffnut asks through the sobs.

"Calm your chicken! It's not doing any of us any good to have the entire Edge freaking out." Hiccup explains.

"I'm here, Chicken. Don't you worry. Everything is gonna turn out.." Tuffnut was trying to assure it but he starts crying again. "I can't lie to a chicken!" He says as he pulls his chicken into a hug.

"You know, that's how much easier if you had some Monsterous Nightmare gel. Plus, you could get yourself some rotisserie chicken while you're at it." Snotlout tells them. "That sound good." He says when Tuffnut tackles him.

"You apologize to her right now! You hear me?" Tuffnut tells Snotlout. "Nobody's rotisserating chicken! So you keep that Monsterous Nightmare gel away from her!"

"Actually, Tuff, Snotlout might actually be onto something." Hiccup says as he remembers how he and Heather were able to escape the Deathsong amber as he moves toward Hookfang.

"Oh, sure, what's next, roasted Toothless?" Tuffnut asks.

"Just stay with me here. Me and Heather had a run in with an adult Deathsong on Melody Island years go and were able to escape using Nightmare gel." Hiccup explains as he takes some gel off of the dragon using a knife and has the Zippleback light it up.

"Don't do it, Hiccup! You'll singe her little feathers." Tuffnut begs of him as Hiccup moves to Chicken. "And that's all she has in the whole wide world. Except me, of course. Feathers and me."

"I'm just doing enough to get it started. I won't go deep enough to get remotely close to Chicken. See?" Hiccup explains as the cocoon is weakened. "Now, Toothless?"

Toothless uses his claw and slices chicken free and she passes out as Tuffnut pushes Hiccup out of the way and picks chicken up.

"Chicken is free! Chicken is free!" Tuffnut cheers as Heather returns with the Deathsong and chicken is scared. "We need to remove Garffiljorg from this island, immediately!"

"Okay, Tuff, don't you think you're overreacting?" Hiccup asks him.

"Nonsense!" Tuffnut says and throws chicken, leaving Hiccup to catch her.

"It is getting difficult to handle this guy, Hiccup." Astrid admits.

"She's right, Hiccup. I mean, he just went after Chicken. How long before he goes after us?" Fishlegs agrees.

"He's got to go! Back to Melody Island with you." Snotlout tells them.

"Snotlout, did you forget when we told you about how the Deathsong tried to eat us and our dragons?" Hiccup asks him.

"Well, I wasn't exactly listening to be honest." Snotlout admits.

"It's too dangerous for us to go back." Astrid understands.

"And we don't even know if the baby and Deathsong can bond with a dragon that's not its parent." Fishlegs adds.

"He's just too young to know right from wrong. He's just following his instincts. I know what it's like to be alone in the world, for the little time it was. We can't just shun him." Heather tells them.

"She's right. We have trained dragons from a Night Fury to a Night Terror. We can certainly train him not to eat us." Hiccup agrees with her, knowing they can do it but Garffiljorg continues to screech.

"And what about that? Does anyone else, not named Hiccup, have an idea before I take a running leap off the top of the Edge." Snotlout warns them.

"Nobody say a word." Astrid tells everyone, wanting to see that happen.

"Funny, Astrid. I'm just being honest, because this is driving me crazy!" Snotlout states and Heather starts humming.

"_Where the north wind meets the sea. There's a river full of memory. Sleep, my darling, safe and sound. For in this river all is found. In her waters, deep and true. Lie the answers and a path for you. Dive down deep into her sound. But not too far, or you'll be drowned. Yes, she will sing to those who hear. And in her song all magic flows. But can you brave what you most fear. Can you face what the river knows. Where the north wind meets the sea. There's a mother full of memory. Come, my darling, homeward bound. When all is lost, then all is found._" Heather sings as Garffiljorg calms down and starts purring before going to sleep in her arms.

"Wow, Heather. That was just...beautiful." Fishlegs compliments as everyone is amazed by both how that worked and her singing.

"Garff isn't the only one it worked on." Hiccup says as they see the twins are also asleep. "And it makes perfect sense. The Deathsong sings to its prey to draw them in. That must be the primary way it communicates."

"And it might help us train it." Heather adds, agreeing with him.

Snotlout just fake coughs. "Yak dung." He says and accidentally wakes up the Deathsong and it starts screeching again. "Well, you better keep singing then."

"You mean, we." Hiccup corrects him.

"I do?" Snotlout asks.

"Oh, yes, you do." Heather states knowing that this is gonna be fun.

-

Hiccup and Toothless take the first shift with Garffijord and take him to the beach to get away from the others.

"_Come listen my young dragon friend, and I will tell you of a tale. Of days when Vikings feared the sound, of monsters' distant wail. For was a time not long ago, when wars were bravely fought. Against a foe we feared, before a lesson we were taught. That Night of Fury, one did dare to set aside his dread. And place his hand upon a winged villain's gentle head. Now time has passed and what was once our cursed enemy, now carries us to battle against our threats across the seeeeeaaaaa._" Hiccup sings and Garff just spits amber at his metal leg.

Fishlegs had the second shift and tries soothing Garff with the flute and dodges all of the spits of amber as after some time, Garffijord goes to sleep and Fishlegs sees that Meatlug was hit by the amber.

As night fell, Snotlout took Garffijord on a flight with Hookfang.

"_I killed my first boar when I was just a boy. A big ol' battle ax was my favorite toy. Each of my enemies, they all have been destroyed. For I am Snotlout, oy, oy, oy. Snotlout, Snotlout, oy, oy, oy. He's all man and you're all boy. Yes, I said it, try me if you dare. I'll chill you to the bone with my steely glare._" Snotlout dares the dragon and he spits amber at him.

Snotlout returns to the Edge and heads for the twins.

"You guys are up, are up. You take him." Snotlout tells him while holding Garffijord to face them.

"No, no, no!" Tuffnut cries as Garffijord spots chicken.

"He's fine, he just gets a little cranky when the music stops. Okay?" Snotlout says and drops the baby. "That's all. So, ha-ha. You're gonna have so much fun." He says and leaves them, happy to have been rid of that baby.

Garffijord already starts on hunting chicken through the hut.

"_No, Garff, no. You must not hurt Chicken. For chicken is a friend, will see you to the end._" Tuffnut sings when Ruffnut pushes him out of the way.

"_No, Garff, no. You cannot eat Tuff's chicken. Eating that bird's heart will tear Tuffnut's heart apart._" Ruffnut tells him as Garffijord leaves chicken alone and listens to them.

"_Why must you eat my pet? It is the only one I'll get. And then all I'll do is great, because we only just met. Something else that rhymes with met._" Tuffnut sings as he gets of the floor.

"_But, how long, how long? How long can we keep this up? Can we keep this up? Keep this up?_" Ruffnut asks as chicken flies on Tuffnut's head and crows as Garffijord attacks them.

-

At Hiccup and Heather's hut, Hiccup is there and is using Monsterous Nightmare gel to get it to ignite and it failed.

"That was supposed to work." Hiccup says when he hears everyone calling out his name and goes to see everyone coming at him.

"This is officially out of hand!" Astrid says as she and Stormfly are covered in amber. "We cannot go on like this!"

"But we can't abandon him." Heather says as she and Windshear fly back with Garffijord. "I'd never forgive myself."

"We won't abandon him." Hiccup promises him as he has the sword in hand. "We'll do what we should've done to begin with, we'll take him to be with his own kind." He says as his sword lights up with a Zippleback spark.

"Hiccup, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Heather asks him.

"Yes, were going back to Melody Island to find that Deathsong." Hiccup says as he holds the flaming sword out.

-

Heather keeps humming to Garffijord and Hiccup makes moss ear plugs for the dragons.

"Yeah, like this guy needs another reason to not listen." Snotlout says referring to his dragon.

"You didn't happen to make any for us, did you?" Astrid asks Hiccup.

"Very funny, Astrid. You should take your comedy routine on the road." Snotlout says mockingly.

"Maybe I will." Astrid says as they all fly off to Melody Island.

They even used dragon nip to keep Garffijord asleep as they make their way to the island.

"How do you get a one armed Jorgensen out of a tree?" Astrid asks Snotlout. "You wave to him!" She answers and everyone laughs.

"Wave to him, that's not even funny. Oh, I just got it, it is funny." Snotlout tells himself.

"How do you sink a Jorgensen battleship?" Astrid asks them. "You put it in the water." She answers and everyone laughs.

"Do another one! One more." Fishlegs asks of her.

"That's right, laugh, all of you." Snotlout tells them. "But don't come running to me when you're out of Nightmare gel."

"All right, gang, the Deathsong strike is very precise. Streamlined. So we need to spread out. That way, it can only go after one of us at a time." Hiccup says as they make it to Melody Island.

-

Once they revived, they checked out the cave that they trapped it in two years prior.

"Hey, how do you confuse a Jorgensen?" Astrid asks. "Put him in a round arena and tell him to go to the corner." She says and everybody laughs, including Hookfang.

"You don't even understand jokes." Snotlout informs his dragon.

Hiccup and Toothless just leave the cave and found nothing. "Well, it's not in there. Which is good news for Garff." He tells them.

"And bad news for us." Snotlout adds.

"All right, lets find this guy." Hiccup says and they take back to the sky and hear the call of the Deathsong.

"The earplugs seem to be working." Heather notices as their dragons aren't acting up like last time.

"Great. Now let's get in closer. Everyone on high alert." Hiccup warns them and they fly back into the home of the Deathsong and Garffijord starts waking up.

"Hiccup?" Heather calls out.

"Yeah, got it." Hiccup assures, hearing him as they search for the dragon and Heather keeps humming the melody of her song to him when she gets attacked by amber form behind.

"Not again!" Heather calls as she and Fishlegs get hit and they see the adult Deathsong.

"Remember, if we don't bunch up, it can't-" Hiccup was saying when the Deathsong starts shooting amber again. "Heads up!" He warns and moves out of the way and everyone else gets hit.

"I already hate this guy!" Snotlout informs them as he crashed.

The Deathsong lands to the down riders when Garff flies in and lands in front of the adult dragon and screeches again.

"Never thought I'd be happy to hear that." Snotlout tells them.

The Deathsong spits amber as Garff does the same.

"Well, at least they're not shooting it at us." Hiccup says as they watch the interaction from above.

The Deathsong roars it's melody and Garff does the same thing and they see they're two different melodies.

Hiccup and Toothless land and think they're working it out.

"I think they're bonding." Hiccup guesses when the adult Deathsong smacks Garffijord away and he gets slammed into the rock wall.

"Garff!" Heather calls out.

"Hiccup!" Fishlegs call's our as the Deathsong attacks them.

Hiccup was able to pull out the fire sword, but was too late as he got hit by the amber.

"I knew this was going to go bad. Why doesn't anyone listen to me?" Snotlout asks.

Fishlegs starts singing its melody and Garffijord copies him, which is angering the adult Deathsong.

"Fishface! What are you doing?" Snotlout asks him.

"I'm sorry, I hum when I'm nervous." Fishlegs tells him.

"Hum later. I heard they love humming in Valhalla." Snotlout tells him.

"Hey, that's my favorite lullaby. And I was the one who taught it to Garff." Fishlegs replies to him.

"Well, that might just be the problem." Hiccup says and they look him. "He's singing our songs, one one's we sang to him, and the Deathsong doesn't like them."

"You know, everyone's a critic." Snotlout states.

Garff then hides behind some stones and the Deathsong looks back to them.

"What do we do?" Astrid asks.

"Keep signing? Maybe we can find a song it does like." Hiccup guesses.

"I'm sorry, but I'll need some time to prepare." Tuffnut tells them. "This golden throat is a very delicate instrument." That's when the Deathsong came and gets ready to eat him and Tuffnut quickly thinks. "_Oh, Deathsong, oh, Deathsong. You're big and bad and you kill a lot. And you spit out goo that looks like snot._" He sings and the Deathsong starts shaking him in his mouth. "Help!"

"_Ooh, it's a scared, scary, bad dragon._" Snotlout starts singing and Garff comes out of hiding hearing the singing. "_He's gonna kill us all. He's gonna kill us. I hope he doesn't. I hope he leaves soon._"

"Hey, that doesn't rhyme." Ruffnut informs him.

"Oh, like it knows." Snotlout replies and the Deathsong stops shaking Tuffnut and does it's call again like it does understand. "Okay, Sorry."

"_The beauty of your wings makes us all want to sing._" Astrid sings.

"_Want to sing_." Fishlegs repeats.

"_Want to sing._" Heather goes next.

"_Want to sing. What to sing, want to sing._" Hiccup sings.

"_All If us want to sing your death song. We all want to be like you and growl_." Ruffnut says and as the Deathsong goes in to eat her, Garff flies in front of the adult and sings the same melody it does and the two then fly off.

"Go on, Garff. It's okay." Heather encourages him as they fly off.

"I don't believe it. Garff saved us." Hiccup says.

"Yep, we saved him, and he saved us." Heather replies.

"Wait, I just had a thought. Now that they're both on the same team, what's stopping the two of them from eating us?" Tuffnut asks as Hiccup lights up the sword and breaks out of the amber cocoon.

"Hiccup, that's brilliant! If you find the weak spot in the cocoon, the rest will crack and fall apart." Fishlegs says.

"Exactly. Now, let's get out of here before their appetites return." Hiccup says and helps everyone else get out.

-

They all start flying away as Heather sees Hiccup messing with the sword.

"You know, if you were to double the size of that, it would make a a really cool sword." Heather comments on the weapon.

"Exactly. I'm thinking of calling it _Inferno._" Hiccup informs her and nobody is quite sure on the name. "I mean, look at it."

"Nah. Doesn't have the right _je ne sai quoi_." Tuffnut says.

"_Je ne sai quoi_? How did you...all right I'll come up with something different." Hiccup promises. "Of course, I'll have to make some adjustments. Lengthen the shaft, add another canister for more Monsterous Nightmare gel, make the cas canister airtight. Oh, I'm getting to work on this thing right away." He says and starts flying back to the Edge faster.

"And that's the last we'll see of Hiccup for some time." Heather says as everyone laughs.

"_Ooh, he's a scary, scary dragon. He didn't kill us. I'm glad he didn't. Now we can go home._" Snotlout sings.

-

What they didn't expect to be waiting for them back at the Edge was Elsa.

By the time they got there, she had made her way to the only people she knew she could trust after escaping her home.

But when they see her, her hair is now instead of done up is let free and her outfit has been changed from ice blue to completely white like snow.

**(Frozen 2 look)**

"Elsa, what are you doing here?" Hiccup asks her.

"Sorry, I didn't know who else I could go to for help." Elsa apologizes to them.

"Why, what's going on?" Heather asks.

"Arendelle was attacked by a group of Dragon Hunters." Elsa explains to them.

"What?" Heather asks.

"What would Viggo be doing attacking Arendelle?" Hiccup wonders.

"How'd you get here without a boat?" Heather asks when they see a frozen water horse approach them.

"There's a lot I need to catch you guys up on." Elsa admits as they even see she has a small lizard on her shoulder.


	23. Family dynamic

Elsa filled them in on the whole events that occurred recently with some sort of Enchanted Forest in Arendelle, a voice in her head, how she met Bruni, the Fire spirit and that the water spirit is what got her to the Edge after the invasion of the Hunters and the capturing of Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven.

"Look, guys, we only have one chance of knocking out his fleet and saving the citizens of Arendelle. We don't know why Viggo is there, but we need to do it right." Hiccup tells the team after a failed trial run.

After the day was over, Hiccup returned to his hut where Elsa meets up with him.

"Hey, Hiccup, I just wanted to say thanks again for your help." Elsa tells him.

"Hey, we're friends. What else are friends for?" Hiccup says as he yawns from the training. "I'm gonna go get some shut eye before dinner." He tells her and opens his hut to see Dagur is inside and is holding Inferno.

"This is cool." Dagur comments about the sword.

Elsa and Hiccup screams in surprise of seeing him.

"Hiccup! And the ice queen." Dagur greets since he never got Elsa's name. "It's just me." He says while waving inferno around. "Oh. Sorry. How do you turn this thing off?" He asks and Elsa shoots some ice at it.

"Isn't he the guy who killed Heather's family and tried to kill you guys?" Elsa asks Hiccup with a hand raised to stop him.

"Yeah...he's actually Heather's brother." Hiccup informs her.

Elsa looks surprised and looks to Hiccup surprised. "I see I missed some things as well."

"And done worry, I think we're safe." Hiccup assures her and she lowers her hand.

"So I never did catch your name?" Dagur tells Elsa.

"It's Elsa. And I already know you're Dagur." Elsa replies to him.

"And give me that." Hiccup tells Dagur, snatching Inferno.

"I see you've been keeping busy." Dagur says as Toothless growls at him. "Hey, come on, Toothless. Where's the love, man?"

"Dagur, What in the Thor are you doing here?" Hiccup asks him as he places Inferno down.

"Heather. I thought I'd find her here, and I haven't seen a trace of her. It's so...frustrating." Dagur explains.

Hiccup remembered he never actually filled in Heather and saw if she was okay so he comes with a quick lie. "Yeah, Heather hasn't actually been around here in a while, I'm afraid."

"Yeah, I kinda figured, I was waiting for you to talk to you about helping he train a dragon." Dagur explains.

"What?" Hiccup asks.

"I need to cover more ground faster. Dragony fast." Dagur explains.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Hiccup tells him.

"Hiccup! You and Toothless owe me. I saved your lives." Dagur reminds him.

"You also tried to end them twice." Hiccup reminds him.

"Did I really?" Dagur asks him. "I think maybe in here, I never really wanted to." He dats patting his chest.

"Oh, gods." Hiccup mumbles. "I can't train you to ride a dragon, especially now. Elsa has a problem we're trying to help her out with."

"Oh, you're too busy, I get it." Dagur understands. "Guess I'll be going. First maybe I'll, you know, take a stroll around the base. See a few old friends. Make a few apologies." He says and Hiccup quickly stops him.

"No, no, no. You can't." Hiccup tells him.

"Why not?" Dagur asks.

"Because...you've got to be up early tomorrow to start your training." Hiccup gives in.

"Are you serious? But I though-"

"Look, we'll meet first thing in the morning on the far side of the island. That's where most of the wild dragons are. Actually, you should go there right now and camp out for the night." Hiccup tells him.

"Great idea." Dagur says and pulls him into a hug. "Thank you, Hiccup."

"Don't mention it."

"You're so small and cuddly." Dagur tells him as Hiccup breaks off of him.

"Please never say that again. So, I'll see you later. Remember, far side of the island." Hiccup tells him as he leaves.

"What was that about?" Elsa asks him.

"Heather learned he's her brother, but she still wants to rip him apart last I remember. But he did save my life so I guess I kinda do owe him that." Hiccup admits.

"You are gonna tell her he's here or at least him she's here, right?" Elsa questions.

"Uh...I'll try to tell her as gently as possible." Hiccup promises as he gets ready to meet with everyone for dinner as Toothless and Bruni Just end up playing together.

-

"But somebody better explain how yak stew got in my pants." Tuffnut says, finishing a story as everyone laughs as Hiccup and Elsa join them as Toothless heads over and lays near Windshear and Bruni lays on top of Toothless' head and gets himself comfortable.

"Hey, speaking of soggy pants, you ever wonder what happened to Dagur and his crazy pants?" Hiccup asks and everyone stops laughing.

"No." Snotlout admits.

"And for the record, I don't think his pants were that crazy." Ruffnut tells him as a Night Terror steals Snotlout's food.

"What brings Dagur up, anyway?" Fishlegs asks.

"Nothing. But since we're on the subject of Dagur now, do you wonder why he helped Heather escape form Viggo?" Hiccup asks and looks to Heather to see her reaction.

"Probably as a distraction so he could get away himself." Astrid guesses.

"Maybe. I don't know. But what if it was actually the first step on a path towards a new life?" Hiccup asks.

"A _new life? _Dagur?" Heather asks as she stands up in anger. "A dragon doesn't change its markings, Hiccup."

"Uh, Technically..." Fishlegs was going to correct her.

"Except for a Changewing, yes I know." Heather corrects herself.

"And a..." Fishlegs was gonna mention but Heather interrupts again.

"You get the point!' Heather states.

"Right. You're probably right. But then again...who would have thought my father, Stoick the Vast, would ever learn to ride a dragon? Especially since I left so he wouldn't kill my dragon." Hiccup replies to her. "You never know, next time we see Dagur-"

"I'll split the father-Killer in two!" Heather promises as she uses her ax to break Hiccup's stool next to her and everyone looks surprised, and now Elsa understands what Hiccup was talking about.

"Yep. Okay, I think we get your point." Hiccup assures her, to calm her down.

"I better go. I have island patrol tonight." Heather tells them.

"Actually, I'll take the shift." Hiccup tells her. "I have a mission for you. One final recon mission to check out on Arendelle. You and Snotlout."

"What are you talking about? We went last time." Snotlout reminds him.

"I know. That's why I'm sending you again. To be on the lookout for any last minute changes." Hiccup explains.

"That sorta makes sense." Heather guesses but knows that Hiccup is hiding something.

"And you should leave tonight." Hiccup tells them.

"Tonight? But I haven't even packed." Snotlout states. "It's gonna take a whole day to get there."

"Jeez, Hiccup, you trying to get rid of us?" Heather asks, jokingly.

"Yes..no! That's crazy." Hiccup says and starts stuttering on his words.

"I'm kidding, Hiccup. Relax." Heather assures him and pecks his cheek. "Come on, Snotlout. Sooner we leave, the sooner we get back." She says and call's her dragon as they leave.

"Take your time. And by that, I mean be safe." Hiccup tells them and knows his work is cut out for him.

-

The next morning, Hiccup travels to the far side of the island to meet up with Dagur.

"Finally!" Dagur yells as he and Toothless comes flying in. "Not mad, just excited."

"Yeah, I see that." Hiccup says, knowing he needs to get Dagur out of here before Heather returns or it's gonna get messy.

"I've been thinking about what dragon I should ride. Something that makes a statement. You don't have any Skrills hanging around, do you?" Dagur asks.

"What? No." Hiccup tells him.

"Well, I suppose I could settle for a Night Fury." Dagur says looking to Toothless. "Not the same zhush as a Skrill, but I could get by."

"Sorry, he's one of a kind as far as we know." Hiccup admits.

"How about a Razorwhip like Heather's?" Dagur asks.

"Dagur, I already picked out a dragon for you." Hiccup says and whistles into the woods as something responds to the whistle and heads towards them.

"He's awesome, right? And dangerous? Because I already picked out a name. Shattermaster." Dagur says when one of the green Groncle's Hiccup and Heather rescued comes out od the woods.

"What's this? My dragon's breakfast?" Dagur asks.

"Nope. This is Shattermaster." Hiccup breaks to him. "The perfect dragon for you. Stable, easy to ride."

"Yeah, I am not riding that dragon." Dagur informs him.

"Then you're not riding any dragon." Hiccup tells him.

"It's beneath me." Dagur says while crossing his hands and looking away from the Groncle.

"Not yet, prove to me that you can even get on it." Hiccup dares of him.

"Easy." Dagur says and leaps to get on his back only for the Groncle to move back and Dagur lands on the ground and chases the dragon. "I got this! Get back here!"

"Dagur, no!" Hiccup warns him when Dagur tries to get on him from behind only to get whacked by his tail and thrown off the cliff.

"Are you Okay?" Hiccup asks and looks to see him dangling off a branch.

"I see dragon training is going well." Elsa comments as she caught up with them.

"You made your point, Hiccup. Well so it your way." Dagur promises.

-

With time, Hiccup teaches him how to do the hand-to-snout gesture to gain his trust and how to get them off the ground.

Hiccup then teaches them simple maneuvering skills through the trees.

"You're trying to steer him too much. You need to trust your dragon, Dagur." Hiccup tells him. "He doesn't want to hit the trees anymore than you do."

"If you say so." Dagur says. "Let's see wha you've got for speed, Shattermaster." He says and they speed up.

"Slow down, you're not ready for-" Hiccup was warning him when they bounce off a tree and hit Toothless.

The two get back up and so do the dragons.

"Bad Dagur, bad!" Dagur tells himself. "I'm sorry, Hiccup."

"You're trying to do too much too soon." Hiccup says and sees his foot is broken. "Great. I can't fly Toothless like this."

Dagur takes it and tries straitening it only to break it.

"It's okay. I have a spare back at my hut." Hiccup assures him. "I'll take your dragon and Elsa and be back as soon as I can." He says as Elsa helps him stand and they both get on to Shattermaster. "Now you two stay right here. Dot go anywhere. Don't do anything." He warns them as they leave.

Dagur looks to Toothless with a smug smile on his face. "So, any ideas on how to pass the time?" He asks the dragon who giggles in response.

Dagur learns how to operate Toothless' tail and starts to fly him through the air.

"Come on, T. Whoa!" Dagur says a sthey fly through the forest. "We're best friends now!" He cheers when he accidentally touches Toothless' soft spot that causes him to spread his wings out and sends Dagur flying off the saddle.

"Why'd you do me like that, bud?" Dagur asks and gets met by a ax and turns to see Astrid and the others holding Hiccup's broken leg.

"What have you done with Hiccup?" Fishlegs asks him.

-

They bring him back to the Edge with his hands tied behind his back.

"The sooner you tell us where Hiccup and Elsa are, the easier it'll go on you." Astrid tells him.

"I'm telling you, they're here. Getting Hiccup's spare leg." Dagur tells them.

"Sure he is." Tuffnut says sarcastically. "I've had enough of these lies. Either you start singing like a canary or we do." He warns him as he and Ruffnut start singing horribly as Elsa and Hiccup approaches them.

"And it only gets worse. Ask Hiccup." Tuffnut says and then realizes what he said and turns to see the two of them. "You're alive! Wait. You're alive?"

Astrid moves past Dagur and towards Hiccup. "What's going on here? Dagur says you're buddies now and you're teaching him to ride a dragon." She tells Hiccup who laughs nervously.

"Yeah, it's a funny story. Actually." Hiccup says.

They go to one of the main huts to tell them what happened and explains what happened .

"So, Dagur saves your life?" Astrid asks.

"And Toothless'. Right, bud?" Dagur adds and Toothless just walks off.

"Yeah, pretty much." Hiccup says.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Astrid asks.

"Because I wasn't sure how you would feel about it. 'Cause I wasn't sure how I felt about it." Hiccup admits.

"To be fair, I have done some pretty questionable things." Dagur admits.

"Questionable? Trying to kill us isn't questionable." Fishlegs tells him.

"Yeah, Yeah. He saved you. I get that. But why teach him to ride a dragon?" Tuffnut asks.

"He's looking for Heather." Elsa tells them.

"And the sooner I teach him how to fly, the sooner he can leave to find her. Wherever she is." Hiccup finishes.

"Dagur, have we got some good news for you." Ruffnut says, not getting the cover story.

"Yes, because Fishlegs is the best Groncle trainer in the world. He can help improve your flying." Hiccup interrupts the twins.

"Aww. Thanks, Hiccup." Fishlegs replies as the twins try getting his attention.

"Maybe you should go train him. Now." Hiccup tells Fishlegs.

"Oh, yes. Right away." Fishlegs replies and the two start leaving.

"I want to know everything. Everything!" Dagur tells Fishlegs as they leave.

-

Hiccup and Astrid are working on their plan to get the Dragon Hunters out of Arendelle and save everyone l

"Eight ships all packed together in their fiord. If we hit them with one coordinated strike, we could get the Hunters to leave Arendelle." Hiccup tells Astrid.

"Could we talk about the Rumblehorn in the room, please? Dagur here?" Astrid asks of him.

"I know. I know. But he seems like he's really trying to change." Hiccup tells her.

"You don't think is strange that he shows up here right as we're about to save Arendelle?" Astrid asks.

"You weren't there, Astrid. He could have turned us over to Viggo's men, but he helped us escape." Hiccup tells her.

"Did he? Or is that what they wanted you to think, so they could put a spy among us?" She asks.

"Look, I'm not blind to the risks, Astrid. Why do you think I have him slowest, least dangerous dragon I could find? It's...when the chips were down and I thought the hunters had me for sure,Toothless let Dagur ride him to save me. If Toothless trusts him, then I have to try to trust him, too." Hiccup explains to her.

"Well...I hope you had Toothless Are right about Dagur. For all our sakes." Astrid says.

"Maybe we should go check on him. See how he and Fishlegs are doing." Hiccup says.

"Okay, but just to be safe." Astrid says before putting a drape over the plan as they leave.

-

"Fishlegs, hows your stident?" Hiccup asks as he and Astrid fly up to meet them.

Dagur comes flying past them while laughing maniacally and returns to them.

"He is a fast learner." Fishlegs admits.

"I had an excellent teacher!" Dagur tells him.

"Oh, stop it, you." Fishlegs says, blushing. "Look at this move he came up with. Remember the Gronckle Drop?" He and Dagur go up and turn their dragons upside down and plumit before gliding over the water.

"That was insane." Hiccup tells them.

"I know! We call it the inverted Gronckle drop. We could really use it on our next mission." Fishlegs says and Hiccup nods his head, big wanting Dagur to know their plan.

"I think that's enough training for you two." Hiccup says.

"But there's hours of light left, and I have so much to learn!" Dagur states.

"On, you're still training. With me." Astrid tells him.

"He is?" Hiccup asks, not remembering that.

"Relax, Hiccup. She obviously doesn't test me and wants to check me out for herself." Dagur assures him.

"Oh, he's not as dumb a she looks." Astrid mocks.

Dagur looks at her and laughs. "And now she's trying to provoke me." He then laughs. "But it won't work. "I am the sea, calm and wide. My sense of peace comes from the inside."

"Seriously?" Astrid asks as Hiccup gets ready to fly away.

"Try not to hurt him." Hiccup asks of her as he leaves.

"No promises." Astrid replies and Dagur smiles nervously.

-

The two of them trained for the rest of the day and the twins were talking to Dagur and Chicken.

"Are you going to tell Dagur about Heather?" Astrid asks Hiccup.

"How can I? You heard her last night." Hiccup reminds her. "She clearly isn't ready to see him."

"Then I think you should get him off the edge, fast." Elsa reminds him.

"Yes, I know, why do you think I'm trying to teach him how to fly? I figured we've got until sundown tomorrow to get him out of here before they return." Hiccup says.

"Before who returns?" Heather asks and they see they've returned already.

"We raced back." Snotlout tells them.

"I think I know who lost." Hiccup says as Heather spots Dagur.

"This is not gonna go well." Elsa can see.

"You!" Heather calls out.

"Sister!" Dagur says cheerfully and stands to face her when Heather grabs her ax and runs to him in anger and Tuffnut covered Chicken's eyes.

Heather goes in and almost hits him in the face and stops herself.

"I guess a hug is out of the question?" Dagur says when Heather just punches him square jawed in the face.

Later, Hiccup got Heather and Dagur on opposite sides of the fire pit to talk and avoid a fight.

"Hiccup Haddock, I cannot believe you kept my Heather from me." Dagur says while he rubs his jaw where Heather had previously hit him. "I was so worried. Was she alive? Was she dead?"

"Oh, please. Drop the act." Heather tells him and turns her anger to Hiccup. "And you! It's bad enough my boyfriend is consorting with my mortal enemy. But then you teach him how to ride dragons? Have you lost your mind?" She asks and grabs his shirt to pull his face closer to hers.

"Heather, he saved my life." Hiccup says, trying to calm her down and put her arms down.

"I don't care! You can't rush him." Heather tells him and slaps his arms away. "You think it's a coincidence that he shows up now before this mission? It's a setup, Hiccup. Can't you see that?"

"To be fair, that was my first thought, too." Astrid admitted.

"He sent me adrift as a child. He killed my family and my entire village and left me to die again. He killed our father, for Thor's sake. He tried to kill each of us multiple times." Heather lists a small

"Most, if not all, of those things are true, but I am trying to change, sister." Dagur promises.

Heather grabs him by the shoulder and raises her ax to his throat. "Don't ever call me that, spy." She warns him and Dagur moves it from his neck.

"I'm not a spy. I don't know how I could possibly prove that. I guess you're just gonna have to take my word for it." Dagur says and sees nobody is. "Yeah, I didn't think I would take it, either, if I were you. So thank you all for the hospitality, but I think Shattermaster and I should be going. Good day." He says and starts leaving.

"Oh, come on. Dagur, Dagur." Hiccup call's as he leaves.

"I said, good day." Dagur says as they can see actual tears as he leaves.

"Was he crying?" Snotlout asks.

"Yeah. Tears of laughter, at us." Heather answers.

"I should probably talk to him before he goes." Hiccup says and follows after him.

Hiccup finds him and sees he found their plan for Arendelle attack. "What are you doing?"

"Everyone kept dropping hints about some big mission." Dagur tells him. "I thought I should take a look. Heather may hate me, but I do not want her flying any suicide mission."

"It's Arendelle. Viggo attacked them a week ago and caught them by surprise. He seems to be doing something there, and forcing the people to the work.

"It's not really defended." Dagur comments.

"It's very remote. Only one way in through the fjord by boat." Hiccup tells him.

"Seems a little too obvious. Attack an ally's home for them to reach out to get help." Dagur comments.

"We've kept an eye on it for weeks. Viggo doesn't defend it because the people are already conquered and aren't exactly the fighting type. No reason to defend it and he thinks that it's a secret invasion." Hiccup explains.

"Let me guess, coordinated attack, using the fjord for cover, but staying up out of sorrow range?" Dagur asks him and that's exactly their plan.

"Something like that."

"You're too gullible, Hiccup. That's your problem. I tricked you plenty of times."

"Yeah, and I'm still here."

"Hiccup , What did Dagur..." Astrid was asking and she sees him and pulls out two knives before running them at his neck. "So you see a spy!"

Dagur just removes the knives from his neck. "Relax, blondie. I was trying to talk some sense into your boy Hiccup, here." He explains.

"We can't let him go now. He's seen the plans." Astrid says.

"I know." Hiccup agrees.

"Fine, lock me up. Then go do your mission." Dagur says and walks off and stops near Hiccup. "But know this, Hiccup. If anything happens to Heather, I will hold you personally responsible." He warns him.

They bring Dagur to Shattermaster in the stalls and lock the two up.

"That should hold him." Astrid states.

"We'll figure out what to do with you when we get back." Hiccup promises Dagur.

"I have some ideas." Heather says raising her ax again.

"Just one question, Hiccup. Who attack now? Did the number of ships coming in to Arendelle happen to go up?" Dagur asks.

"Uh...Yes. From eight to twelve." Hiccup admits.

"Of course they did!" Dagur shouts as he throws his head between the bars. "Because eight ships weren't enough to draw you in fast enough! Use your brain, Hiccup."

"I am, and you know what? It's telling me not to trust you." Hiccup tells him and they all leave him.

"You're on guard duty, chicken." Tuffnut tells his pet. "Keep an eye on this guy." He says and Dagur looks at his _guard_ completely confused.

-

The next morning, they're all saddled up, ready to attack as Hiccup and Heather get ready to head out in their hut.

"Dagur couldn't be right about this mission too easy, could he?" Hiccup asks as they make their way down to the others.

"We've been watching the ships for weeks. We haven't seen anything out of the ordinary." Heather states as she grabs a barrel of Monsterous Nightmare gel. "Dagur is still working for Viggo. He was just trying to keep us from attacking his master. He's a liar and a spy."

At that moment, Chicken comes running to Tuffnut and is clucking.

"What's that, Chicken?" Tuffnut asks and clucks back as chicken drops from exhaustion. "Dagur has escaped?"

"I told you." Heather says and they run to the stalls to see Shattermaster did it.

"Shattermaster broke him out." Hiccup sees.

"You have to admit. He really has bonded with his dragon well." Fishlegs says and the couple look to him with an eyebrow raised. "I'm just saying."

They all head out and load their dragons. "Wings up, gang. We have to hit those ships before Dagur has a chance to give away our plan." Hiccup says and they take off with Elsa on Toothless.

-

The team flies off and see they're approaching Arendelle and don't see Dagur.

"Anyone see Dagur? Maybe we beat him here." Hiccup asks them as they enter the fjord.

"There he is." Astrid says and they see Dagur and Shattermaster flying through.

"Pay, here's the..." Hiccup was saying when Heather and Windshear blow past and make her way to Dagur.

"This is your last betrayal, Dagur." Heather promises and shoots several blasts that he dodges without even looking and then flies upwards to keep the sun in Heather's eyes. As she looks for him, Dagur comes up behind him and Heather swings Windshear's tail to try and hit him. "You can't loose me that easily."

She then flies through the fjord and Dagur uses the inverted Gronckle drop and goes underneath Windshear and hits a soft spot, taking Windshear down.

"What do we do?" Astrid asks.

"Even when he warns them, they'll still need time to react." Hiccup tells the team. "We hav to hit them, now!" He says and they all fly at them.

"Ahoy, in Arendelle." Dagur greets them. "I have a message for Viggo. Tell him Dagur the Deranged says hello." He tells them before Shattermaster drops lava on their ships and an arsenal of catapults and archers appear in the hidden areas of the mountains. "Yeh. Trap." He says and starts avoiding the fires and catapults.

Hiccup stops as he sees the attack and fire.

"What's he doing?" Elsa wonders, getting confused.

"Proving he was right. That it was a trap all along." Hiccup says as they watch him use his daggers and Shattermaster to fight them all off.

"Come on, Shattermaster! Let's show 'em what a real Rider and his dragon can do!" Dagur says as he pulls out two knives and they go charging into the smoke and all they can see is more explosions and attacks.

What they didn't see was his daggers falling into the ocean.

"Come on! We have to do something!" Snotlout states.

"Snotlout, there's nothing we can do." Hiccup says, regretting not believing him as they look and see the water spirit moves the wreckage and drives the rest of the hunters out of Arendelle.

-

Lieutenant Matiias, captain of the guard, reported there was no sign of Dagur or Shattermaster which could mean a number of things. What was even stranger it seems that they were forcing the civilians to transport all of their building material. Steel, tools, some other materials, meaning they must be building something. But what? They can't possibly know.

The team returned to the Edge and cleaned up the plan from the table.

"This is my fault. I should've listened to him." Hiccup tells them.

"He knew it was a trap and he still flew right in." Astrid says.

"They said that they never found him, so maybe..." Snotlout tries to think positively.

"Yeah, maybe." Ruffnut says, hesitatingly.

"I will never forget his noble sacrifice." Fishlegs promises.

"You think my brother sacrificed himself?" Heather asks him. "Not with his ego. He thought he could make it." Hiccup looks and slightly smiles at her. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just..I've never heard you call Dagur brother before." Hiccup explains.

Heather just sighs and pulls up her hood. "I need some sleep." She states and walks out and made it to their hut, where she found a note from Dagur about how he loved her enough to sacrifice everything and that she knew that Hiccup would be there to always watch her back.


	24. Defenders of the Wing

The Dragon Riders were in the middle of taking down more and more of the Dragon Hunter's supply ships, and causing more damage to Viggo's ship.

The Dragon Hunters are trying to be smarter, by improving their gear.

But the Riders are smarter by finding more alternative ways of getting away.

When they returned to the Edge after rescuing more dragons, Hiccup went around making sure nobody was hurt.

"How's she doing?" Hiccup asks Fishlegs receding to Meatlug.

"You know, her felelings are hurt. You guys were cutting it a little too close. Minor wing sprain, but she'll be fine." Fishlegs informs him as Heather is helping Astrid walk as she's limping.

"Are you limping?" Hiccup asks her.

"No." Astrid lies.

"She got shot in the leg." Heather tells him.

"What?" Hiccup shouts.

"A hunter arrow was going to hit Stormfly, so I blocked it." Astrid tells him.

"With your leg?" Hiccup asks.

"It just grazed me. I'm fine." Astrid assures him as she walks away and Heather just shrugs her shoulders.

"All right, has anyone else been hurt recently who didn't tell me?" Hiccup asks everyone and they all raise their hands.

"I got a thing in my eye." Tuffnut says.

"You mean that tiny little bug?" Ruffnut asks.

"Hey. That bug was on a mission. A mission to be in my eye." Tuffnut says.

"Oh, gods." Hiccup whispers to himself.

"They all know the risks, Hiccup." Heather tells him.

"And let's not forget we freed a couple dozen dragons this week." Astrid says as she's limping away.

"Okay, guys, new rule. For now on..." Hiccup was saying when he gets a Terror coming in with mail and he takes it off.

"What is it? Lots of big words? You want me to take a look at that?" Tuffnut as he and Ruff walk up to him. "Yeah, big words are my thing. Or should I sat my thingy?"

"It's Viggo. He wants to meet." Hiccup tells them and shows the map.

"He picked a spot in the middle of nowhere. Nice long flight go tire out your dragon." Heather states looking at the map.

Snotlout laughs at that knowledge. "Trap. It's definitely a trap."

"Hiccup, he just wants you out there alone so his men can ambush you." Astrid states.

"No, that's not his style." Hiccup replies.

"He's right. Viggo likes to out-think his opponent." Heather agrees.

"And that's his weakness." Hiccup finishes.

"Unless he actually out thinks you. Which sounds like a strength to me." Tuffnut disagrees and Ruffnut elbows him. "Ow! Like you weren't thinking it too."

"Of course I was, but I wasn't saying it out loud." Ruffnut states.

"Sorry if my thinking comes out of my mouth. The things I think, I say out loud."

"Letting Hiccup know how overmatched he is isn't going to help with his obvious lack of confidence."

"Only he can find the confidence within himself. Which he's now lacking. He needs to go to a seminar." Tuffnut finishes.

"Viggo will come after us, whether I meet him or not. I'm going." Hiccup tells them.

-

Hiccup, Heather and Astrid go to the destination while they're dressed in their Night and Shadow Rider outfits and see Viggo sitting out in the open with a board of Maces Tallons in front of him in a clearing.

"No place near him for men to hide." Astrid comments.

"He'd be easy to pick off from here." Heather says, seeing he'd be easy to take down from the sky.

"No, no. I'm gonna see what he wants to say." Hiccup tells her. "Keep an eye on that ship for me." He tells her and flies in and sees flowers. "Blue Oleander!" He sees and lands Toothless in a clearing.

"You stay here, bud. If he makes a move, you know what to do." Hiccup tells Toothless and walks towards him as Toothless circles the area. He walks up and places the Viking chief on the board. "I think you're missing a piece."

"You came. I'm surprised." Viggo admits.

"No, you're not." Hiccup says as he removes his helmet. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting in a field of flowers that are poisonous to dragons."

"A man has to take precautions. I noticed you arrived with friends." Viggo says, looking to Heather and Astrid.

"Like you said, precautions." Hiccup replies. "What do you want, Viggo?"

"To compliment you, Hiccup. Your little group has had some impressive victories recently. Put quite the dent in my bottom line."

"Glad to hear it."

"You are a worthy opponent. And, as such, this battle between us could continue for years to come." Viggo says as he places another character on the board. "Or...it could end today."

"I accept your surrender." Hiccup says with a smirk smile.

Viggo laughs in reply to that. "Oh, it's good to see your sense of humor is still intact. But I am offering a truce. With very generous terms." He says and pulls out a map with a line drawn through the middle. "You stay south of this line. And my men and I will stay above it. We never have to fight again."

Hiccup has understood Viggo enough to see there's a means to this and that he doesn't just want a _truce_, he's after something.

"Hiccup, I'm not unreasonable. I have no desire to rule the world like..." Viggo was saying and Hiccup wonders who he's talking about, "some people. I'm a businessman, and fighting's bad for business. I'm offering you the chance to save the life of every dragon below this line, not to mention those of your fellow Riders. I am willing to memorialize this deal now and end the bloodshed." He says and signs the map. "Are you?"

"I'll need to think about it." Hiccup tells him, wanting to learn what his plan is.

"Of course. All leaders should receive counsel." Viggo agrees with him. "But in the end, it's up to us, isn't it? Oh, how's Astrid's leg? Healing well, I trust?" He asks as Hiccup rolls up the map. "Time is of the essence, Hiccup."

Hiccup just walks off and leaves him behind.

-

"A truce? You have to be joking." Heather says while she looks over the map back at the Edge.

"This is a very serious looking map." Fishlegs says.

"You're not actually thinking of doing this, are you, Hiccup?" Asird asks and they see he's looking at another game board.

"Hiccup, the maps over here." Heather tells him.

"Yeah. But the answers are over here. Viggo's a game player. His moves are never what they seem to be." Hiccup says as he's trying to outsmart this man.

"Unless, he knows that you know he's a game player. Then the deceptive move is to make the obvious move." Tuffnut tells him.

"But, he's also smart enough to know that hiccup knows that Viggo knows that hiccup knows that he's a game player. So the deceptive move is to actually make the deceptive move." Ruffnut argues.

"But, if Viggo is that smart, then he will know that Hiccup is smart enough to know that Viggo is smart enough to know that Hiccup is Viggo." Tuffnut says and then gets confused. "No, wait. What were we talking about again?"

"Hiccup, can you just share what you're thinking?" Heather begs of him, to keep them quiet.

"Viggo doesn't want a truce. What he really wants is to keep us away from something on his side on the game board." Hiccup explains.

"And where do we find this thing?" Astrid asks.

"I think we can assume that Viggo wouldn't give up any more territory than he has to." Hiccup says as he walks over to the map. "So, whatever he wants to keep us away from is going to be right on the edge of the line. Here." He says and points to the first location. "This is where we start."

-

The next morning, they fly out and find the island.

"There's a village in the clearing to the west." Astrid says and Hiccup looked through his spyglass.

"Strange looking buildings." Hiccup comments seeing some oversized Gronckle on pedestals. "Not viking or Hunter. And check out that statue. Fishlegs, can you make out what kind of dragon that's supposed to be?" He asks and Fishlegs looks.

"Looks like a Boulder Class to me. But not one I've seen before." Fishlegs answers.

"Let's go ask them." Snotlout tells them.

"Whoa, Whoa, whoa!" Heather stops him. "We don't know if they're friend or foe. Let's do a little surveillance first."

"Heather has a point. Well land over in that forest and then try to move in for a closer look." Hiccup tells them and they do exactly that.

-

They all started walking through the forest together to not loose each other.

"That village didn't seem like much. Why wouldn't Viggo want us here?" Heather wonders.

"I don't know yet. I'm just happy to be one step ahead of him for a change." Hiccup says as they keep walking.

As they're walking, Tuffnut turns to talk to Snotlout and sees he's gone. "Where'd Snotlout go?" He asks Ruffnut to see she's also gone. "Okay, I'm pretty sure I had a sister when we landed. Or has it merely been me in girls' clothes?" He wonders when he gets attacked.

Fishlegs was walking and finds blueberries. "Ooh, blueberries." He says when he gets pulled into the bushes.

Astrid stops and looks back to see everyone's missing. She turns only to have stepped into a trap and gets pulled into the trees.

Hiccup and Heather pull out their axe and Inferno to see that everyone's missing.

"I have a bad feeling." Hiccup says as they're looking for where everyone went.

Heather was looking around and looks up to see people hiding. "Then you probably don't want to look up." She warns him and Hiccup does exactly that as they shoot darts as their Rider armor.

"Nice call with our Rider clothes." Heather states, happy to see it came in handy.

"We come in...peace." Hiccup was saying when somebody shoots him in the weak spot in his neck and Heather's arm, taking them down.

-

They later wake up all tied together in a circle and see they're surrounded by masked people.

"Who are these guys?" Snotlout asks.

"And what are they feeding our dragons?" Fishlegs asks as they look and see the dragons are willingly eating some fruit they're being fed.

"I don't know. But I have a feeling that we're about to find out." Hiccup says and stands up and sees a unmasked man walking towards them and then walks up to Hiccup.

"I am Throk." He says and Hiccup was about to respond when he grabs Hiccup and pushes him down to the ground. "All hail, Mala, Queen Defender of the Wing." He says as he turns and everyone bows as a woman walks towards them that must be Mala.

"So, these are the Dragon Hunters your men captured, Throk?" Mala asks the man.

"Yes, my Queen." Throk replies.

"Hunters? Us? You've got to be kidding." Astrid states.

"We do not hunt dragons." Hiccup tells her.

"Do you take me for a fool?" Mala asks him. "You were sent by Viggo Grimborn to stack us and steal the Great Protector." She says and looks to the statue.

"You couldn't be more wrong." Hiccup replies to that.

"Yeah, why would we steal a statue? To pose like it for long periods of time?" Tuffnut asks her.

"Silence, Girl." Mala tells him.

"What? She's the girl." Tuffnut says nodding to Ruffnut.

"A lot of people make that mistake when they first meet us." Ruffnut admits.

"Look, we don't know who you are or who the _Great Protector_ is, but if you're enemies of Viggo Grimborn, then we have something in common." Hiccup tells Mala.

"Exactly what the last spy sant by Grimborn said." Mala states.

"We don't hurt dragons. We honor and respect them." Hiccup promises.

"So you say, but you shackle them and make them do your bidding." Mala replies.

"Those are just saddles. We ride dragons." Heather states.

"Not anymore, you don't. Your dragons are now free." Mala tells her and their dragons aren't budging.

"See? Our dragons are loyal to us." Astrid says.

"Especially you, Hookfang. Way to go!" Snotlout says when his dragon takes off and is called back by Toothless and Windshear.

"If we're Dragon Hunters, why won't our dragons leave now you've _freed_ them?" Heather asks Mala.

"Is it not obvious? They no longer think for themselves. But we will change that." Mala promises.

"Okay, how about the names Nigh Rider and Shadow Rider?" Heather tries out. "Have you heard of them before?"

Mala, Throk and the others look around and they have all heard of the names of the Dragon rescuers who have been rescuing dragons form villages everywhere.

"We are those people." Hiccup promises her. "I'm Night, or known as Hiccup Haddock. She's Shadow, Heather. Until a few years back, we lived in villages that hated dragons. But then I befriended a Night Fury, and met Shadow so we escaped our homes and learned to live in harmony with them. Yes, we ride the dragons, because they allow us to. We haven't harmed a dragon in years and hate the Dragon Hunters and everything they stand for. Think we're lying? Check my dragon's saddle and you'll find a book about all the villages and dragons we've saved."

Mala does exactly that and they see a list of islands they've traveled to and the dozens of dragons they've saved. Heather said it was a waste of time since they could just keep a list, but it seems to be coming in handy now.

"We're not the enemy but we have a common enemy." Hiccup tells her and Mala looks at the book over and over to see nothing that she's seen to prove that they are Dragon Hunters and sees all of the places that Night and Shadow Rider have visited line up with the lists in the book.

"Release them. Release them all." Mala says and they untie the Riders.

"Thank you." Hiccup thanks as Toothless runs and purrs at his Rider.

"You are a mystery, Hiccup Haddock. But know this. If you are not what you claim to be or if you betray us in any way, I will end you myself. Dragon or not." Mala promises.

"Fair enough." Hiccup agrees.

-

Later Mala gives Hiccup and Heather and the team a tour of her village

"That is the Temple of the Wing. And next to it is our healing center where both man and dragon can be treated." Mala tells them.

"Seems almost like the setup we have up at the Edge." Heather comments and Mala picks up some fruit they were feeding the dragons.

"We call it Sagefruit. It calms even the most aggressive dragons." Mala tells them. "Makes them easier to handle."

"Which explains why our dragons have been so docile." Hiccup says petting Toothless who purrs and rubs his head agains Hiccup.

"You do have a connection with him, Hiccup Haddock." Mala says watching the interaction. "O do not understand it, but I cannot deny it."

"Well, maybe if we took you for a ride?" Hiccup asks and Toothless gets ready.

Mala looks around and up in the skies. "No. Such a thing is forbidden."

"Your majesty, what dragon is that?" Fishlegs asks looking to the statue.

"That is our Great Protector. The Eruptiodon. He eats lava from the volcano to keep us all safe." Mala tells him as she smiles at the statue. "If not for him, all of this would burn to the ground."

"Eats lava? That's awesome." Ruffnut states.

"We should hook it up with Meatlug. You know, she pukes lava." Tuffnut tells Ruffnut. "He might be into that kind of thing."

"So, it is a Boulder class." Fishlegs says as he starts sketching the dragon.

"I think your Great Protector is asleep on the job." Snotlout says as they look up and see the volcano is rising.

"That should not be." Mala says.

"Let us check it out for you. We can be there fast." Hiccup offers.

"No, Hiccup Haddock. While you are here, I ask you to respect our ways." Mala tells him and Hiccup understands. "You may come with us on foot."

"Okay, we'll do it your way." Hiccup says and follow her.

-

They all start climbing the mountain and see the lava isn't stopping.

"The Great Protector has never let the lava get this far." Mala says.

"I'm sure there's an explanation." Hiccup assures her.

"You three, start chopping down this line of trees before the fire spreads into the forest." Mala tells her defenders. "The rest of you, come with me to the Den of the Great Protector."

They all keep climbing and Heather notices all of the gifts left for the Dragon.

"Look at all these gifts they leave for the Eruptodon." Heather tells Hiccup who agrees.

Hookfang blasts fire at Snotlout. "What? I treat you fine, you don't even like flowers." Snotlout says as they make it to the den.

"There should be guards here." Mala says and they run into the volcano to see he's gone. "The Protector is gone."

"Could it be on a different part of the island?" Heather asks her.

"No, he never strays far from his food source." Mala says when Astrid sees something.

"Hiccup." Astrid call's as they see a arrow. "Dragon Hunters. And it's fresh. They got the Eruptodon."

"Viggo. He wasn't trying to keep us from finding this island. He was leading us here." Hiccup realizes. "To use us as a diversion to steal their dragon. How did I fall for this?!"

"Hey, to be fair, I tried to warn you." Tuffnut reminds him.

"So, you were just a distraction after all." Mala realizes as she picking up an arrow. "I was actually almost beginning to believe you." She says as she breaks the arrow.

"Mala, this isn't what it seems." Heather tries explaining.

"Silence! You've served your master well. Without the Eruptodon to protect us, the fate of my village is sealed. But so is yours." Mala tells them. "I warned you what would happen if I found out you were lying to me. Your people are going to die for what you've done. But first, Hiccup, I'm going to kill you myself." She says as she draws her sword to his neck and Heather pulls her ax out.

"Look, I'm all for winning friends and influencing people, but this mission has gone talons up." Tuffnut tells them.

"Seize them!" Mala says and the dragons get ready to fight them back.

"Stop!" Hiccup shouts to both sides. "Look, you're right, you were tricked, but so were we. Viggo used us as a distraction so he could steal your Eruptodon, but without us knowing. We don't work with the Dragon Hunters. They're our enemies."

"And yet, our Eruptodon is gone, our village is in peril from the lava flow, and you hold me in front of your Night Fury." Mala says.

Hiccup looks to Toothless who's ready to defend his Rider. "Back off, bud." He tells him and he calms down. "We will prove it to you. We'll go rescue your dragon and bring it back. I'll even leave some people here to help you fight the lava." He proposes to Mala.

"Only your best." Mala tells them.

"Heather's my equal in command, and we've dealt with something similar to this before. And Ruff and Tuff..." Hiccup was saying when Tuffnut swallows a blowdart and Ruffnut laughs when Snotlout helps Tuffnut and the dart hits Ruffnut, "let's just say they have a lot of experience cleaning up stuff. You can trust us. I swear it." He promises and Mala agrees.

"I accept your offer, on one condition, I must travel with you to save our beloved dragon." Mala agrees.

"I thought you didn't fly on dragons." Hiccup remembers.

"I will do whatever it takes to save the Great Protector." Mala tells him and walks up to him. "But if you fail me, I will kill you. If you attempt an escape, I will kill you, if I think, at any time-"

"You'll kill me. I understand." Hiccup agrees.

"Then it shall be done." Mala agrees.

"She's coming with us? That's totally gonna mess up our rhyme." Snotlout tells Hiccup.

"What rhythm?" Hiccup asks as the twins wake up.

"What happened? I had a very vivid dream that I choked on a stun dart and lost control of my vocal chords." Tuffnut says.

Heather sighs and looks to Hiccup. "Just do what you can to stop the lava and try not to kill them." He asks of her.

"I'll try my best." Heather promises.

Hiccup quickly kisses her cheek. "And try to stay alive." He tells her.

"Same thing goes to you." Heather says and walks up to the twins. "Come on, it's up to us to stop the lava flow."

"Chocked on a stun dart." Tuffnut says as Heather drags them away.

"Thor, help me." Heather asks knowing this is going to be difficult.

"We shall not fail you, my queen." Throk promises as they leave to stop the lava.

"You can fly with me and Toothless." Hiccup says when the dragons snarl at something and dragon arrows come flying from bushes.

"Dragon Hunters." Astrid sees.

"Take to the air." Hiccup tells them and they all get on their dragons when Mala leaps into the bushes with her sword and fights the Hunters off singlehandedly.

"She is definitely coming with us." Snotlout says and looks to Hiccup. "And to think you didn't want her to come, Hiccup."

Hiccup just sighs and looks to the Hunters.

"Which way did they go? Tell us." Astrid tells them and they're not talking when Toothless roars at their faces.

"North! Viggo went north with the dragon." The Hunters spill.

"Thanks, bud." Hiccup says as he climbs his dragon and Mala's men take the Hunters away and they take to the sky.

-

"It's quite a rush, isn't it?" Hiccup asks Mala.

"Indeed." She replies as they fly out and spot the ship.

"There he is." Astrid calls out.

"Viggo and the Eruptodon, traveling without any backup?" Fishlegs asks. "That weird."

"Yeah, you're right. He's up to something." Hiccup agrees as they fly off towards the ship and Hiccup moves Mala over to Snotlout. "Why don't you two hang back? Something doesn't feel right, and highs not used to aerial combat."

"Remember, Hiccup, if you fail me-"

"I know, you will kill me." Hiccup remembers and flies off with the others. "Okay, everyone, let's ambush him before he can react."

The three dragons all fly in and start shooting at the ship.

"I'm gonna take a closer look, cover me." Hiccup tells them as he flies in and avoids the arrows. "I don't see Viggo or Ryker, they must be down below."

"Then we're gonna need to clear the deck." Astrid says and they fly in closer to the ship and take out their weaponry and sails so they can't get away and Hiccup lands on the deck with the last archer who's scared of them and tries running.

Toothless and Hiccup chase him as he runs into the sail and knocks himself out. More men come in and Stormfly shoots her spines at them.

"That's far enough." Astrid says as she lands and Fishlegs follows.

"If any of 'em move, Meatlug, eat them." Fishlegs gets his dragon and the Hunters leap over the edge.

Hiccup takes his sword and shield to confront Viggo and free the Eruptodon. "High alert, bud, we're going below. Keep your eye out for an escape hatch." He tells the others and goes below deck.

Toothless lights up the dark hallway as Hiccup and toothless see that Viggo and the dragon aren't here.

"We searched everywhere. No vigho, no Eruptodon. The Hunters he left behind on the island were another misdirect." Hiccup tells them and mounts Toothless. "If Viggo wanted us to go north, he is definitely heading south. I just hope Heather and the twins are having better luck with the lava than we are." He says as they all take to the sky.

-

Back on the island, Heather sliced the trees down to act as blockade for the lava like they did on the Edge when the twins drop a bolder.

"Bombs away!" Ruffnut calls and the Boulder breaks the blockade.

"All right, you two are grounded!" Heather tells the twins aboard Windshear.

"What?" Ruffnut asks.

"Objection, Your Heather, the defense purports you to be out of said jurisdiction." Tuffnut says and just angers Heather. "But we will agree to a short recess." He says and the twins drop to the ground as Heather tries to fight the urge to hit one of them. Or both of them at once.

-

Mala later explains to them how the Eruptodon needs to eat lava constantly to survive and Viggo must know that and that means they need to find a volcano to eat.

"It will eat through the crust of a dormant volcano until it erupts." Mala warns him and Hiccup then remembers that they have a dormant volcano at the Edge.

"He did a Maces and Talons move. He's going to use the Eruptodon to destroy our home and force the dragons to leave so he can capture them." Hiccup realizes and they all fly off towards the Edge to stop it.

-

Heather and the defenders push as many holders as they could to stop the lava and it's failing.

"We can't stop it. It's going to reach the village." Heather says. "I'm so sorry." She gets Throk who gets about.

With the twins, their dragon starts beating the statue of the Eruptodon until it falls over and becomes a blockade for the lava flow.

"Snatched from the mouth of defeat!" Tuffnut cheers.

"Victory is ours!" Ruffnut cheers as the the lava pushes the statue and the twins fall off it.

"The Tuffnut rests!" Tuffnut shouts as the lava starts rising over the statue and Heather sees their job isn't done yet.

-

Hiccup and his team has made it back to the Edge and sees the Eruptodon.

"All right, the fastest way to the volcano is straight over the island. We'll-"

"Hiccup!"

"What, Fishlegs?"

"I don't think we can go straight over the island."

"Why?" Hiccup asks when they see that the Hunters have taken over their weapons on the Edge and are aiming at them and they move around the attack. "We'll have to try and fly around the Edge."

"I don't think that'll work either." Fishlegs says as they see their ships are near.

"We're totally overpowered." Snotlout says.

Hiccup just yells out of frustration. "Think." He tells himself. "Wait, I got it. Fly as close as you can to the Hunters' ships." He tells the team and flies off.

"You want us to do what?" Snotlout asks.

"Trust me." Hiccup says and they all go flying in to see what he has in mind when the Hunters men fire the weapons and the boulders hit their ships.

"Your gamesmanship makes me proud to call you my friend." Fishlegs tells Hiccup as they've outsmarted Viggo.

"Hiccup, we're running out of time." Astrid says as they see the volcano is about to erupt.

"We'll never get past this ballista, Astrid built it." Snotlout says.

Hiccup looks and starts coming with a game plan. "Okay, here's what I want you to do..."

The Eruptodon is going through the volcano and Fishlegs with Astrid fly close to the ballista.

We get hit by that, we're dead." Fishlegs says.

"Let me worry about the ballista. You guys fly West and draw the catapult fire." Hiccup tells them. "Just trust me." He says before flying off to do their parts.

Hiccup and Toothless fly into the ballista and stop for Mala to leap off his back and take down the man controlling the ballista and the others with ease.

Mala then takes control of the ballista and they start chasing the Hunters out as they make their way to the Eruptodon.

Hiccup gets off of Toothless and heads towards the dragon.

"It's okay, you're all...you're all good, big boy." Hiccup says as the Eruptodon turns and roars at him. "Okay, fair enough."

"He's in a feeding frenzy. Nothing will stop him." Mala tells Hiccup and they see the volcano is about to blow.

"We can't loose the edge, but I'm more worried for all the dragons we've rescued." Hiccup admits. "We have to stop him."

"I now understand m Hiccup Haddock, you're not an enemy to dragons. The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, but with all this knowledge you have, what good can it do for one starving dragon?" Mala asks of him and Hiccup remembers something Tuffnut said.

"Wait a minute, Meatlug!" Hiccup call's out and Fishlegs gets the idea and starts trying to spew lava and she's out.

"She used her lava out during the battle." Fishlegs says and Hiccup has another idea.

Hiccup does a specific whistle and calls upon the other Gronckles on the island and they start spewing lava for the Eruptodon.

"Looks like all of these years of training is paying off well recently." Hiccup comments since Heather suggested this idea.

"Your dragons are not unlike our beloved Eruptodon, and will stop at nothing to protect your home." Mala tells Hiccup. "They are truly part of your tribe."

"No, they _are_ my tribe." Hiccup corrects her.

"Okay, am I the only one who thinks this is gross?" Snotlout asks since the Eruptodon is basically eating puke.

-

They bring the Eruptodon back to the Defenders of the Wing island and they all follow.

"It is a good day, a day we shall always remember. The Great Protector has been returned, the village is safe once more, and the Defenders of the Wing have new allies in our fight against Viggo Grimborn." Mala tells them. "Night and Shadow, and their Dragon Riders." They all cheer and are happy to have allies in this fight.

Now all that's left is to come up with a plan to stop Viggo.


	25. Mr Sand dragon

Hiccup was in his hut with Heather gone so he can look over the ring he had made for her on their visit to Arendelle.

These past few years with her have been the best few of his life and he's finally ready to asks her the biggest question of his life. And this being their fifth anniversary would make it the perfect day.

While Hiccup was looking over the ring with Toothless giving his famous gummy smile, Snotlout comes out and sees him.

"Hey, whatcha got there?" Snotlout asks and tries to take it from him.

Hiccup starts stuttering and pushes him off. "Nothing." He says to Snotlout.

"If it's nothing, then give me it. Hookfang and I are making a ceremonial bust of yours truly and we need all the junk metal we can melt down." Snotlout tells him.

"What? This isn't junk. It's my anniversary gift, an engagement ring for Heather. I'm gonna ask her to marry me and get to the ceremony after we're finished with Viggo." Hiccup explains and pockets the ring.

"Really? That's what you're going with? Hey, you know what would be a great idea? A decorative battering ram." Snotlout says and follows Hiccup as he makes his way out. "Oh! How about a shiny new ball and chain? Wait! A bludgeon with her initials!" He suggests and Hiccup closes his hut door in his face.

-

In Heather's hut, Fishlegs enters and sees her searching for something.

"What are you doing?" Fishlegs asks.

"Searching for Hiccup's anniversary gift, the one I haven't gotten him yet, and the one I now have no clue what to give him." Heather admits.

"Maybe I can help." Fishlegs offers.

"How?" Heather asks and turns to face him.

"Okay, who knows Hiccup better than I do?" Fishlegs asks her.

"Me, obviously." Heather answers, since she's spent years with him alone, and around year with these guys.

"Good point, then you know what an amazing gift-giver he is."

"Yes, that's the problem. Hiccup is not like anyone else I've ever met. And considering how we've traveled to several islands and made dozens of other, that's saying something." Heather says as she lists everything in her head. "I mean, he has a Night Fury, he built a suit that allows him to fly. He even has a sword that ignites on command. And he's the best dragon trainer in the entire archipelago."

"Wow. Well, when you put it like that, you really are completely-" Fishlegs was saying when Hiccup comes in.

"Hey, guys, we got a T-mail from Trader Johann, and it didn't sound good." Hiccup says and gathers the others. "All it says is he needs out help and to come quickly."

"And you immediately wrote him back and big, _no, thank you_, I assume." Snotlout guesses.

"Why would I do that?" Hiccup wonders.

"Because he is bad luck." Snotlout states. "The last time we got mail from him, we almost got eaten by an island of very angry and very wild dragons."

"Tell you what, Snotlout, you can stay here." Hiccup offers to him.

"By myself? No, thank you. I'm just saying, this sucks." Snotlout says.

Hiccup goes to find Toothless and Windshear are playing around and Heather is watching them while laughing at their dragons. Heather also wonders if their dragons are together considering how much time they've spent together over the years and how the other ones constantly worried when the other is hurt.

"Hey, Heather, can I talk to you for a second?" Hiccup asks as he comes up behind her.

"Oh, better wait for later. We don't wanna leave Johann waiting." Heather says and called Windshear before taking off rather quickly.

"What was that about?" Hiccup asks his own dragon who's just as confused.

-

They make it to the location and it's the trade market where they find Johann.

"Everything from glass trinkets to golden chalices, vanished." Johann explains to them. "And the traders? Gone without a trace."

"You seem to be okay, Johann. Has anything of yours been taken?" Hiccup asks.

"Master Night, leave it to you to find the silver lining in a dark, mysterious cloud." Johann says.

"Yeah, maybe they just packed up and left?" Snotlout offers as a solution. "You didn't tell them any of your boring stories, did you?"

"I assure you, my takes of adventure and revelry are the preeminent part of any weary traveler's day." Johann tells him.

"Case solved. Anyone wanna race me to the Edge?" Snotlout asks.

"Guys, I don't think this is about Johann." Fishlegs says.

"Okay, Fishlegs. Then what is it about?" Hiccup asks.

"The Curse Of Tears." Fishlegs says and Tuffnut starts crying uncontrollably.

"It's that word. Makes him open up like a water spout. Ever since we were kids." Ruffnut explains while comforting her brother.

"What word? _Tears_?" Snotlout asks and Tuffnut cries even louder.

"Really?!" Ruffnut asks.

"Sorry." Snotlout apologizes.

"Fishlegs, can you explain?" Hiccup asks him to ignore the three.

"As I was saying, if the Cirse of T...is real, and I'm not saying it is, many traders and valuables have fallen victim to it and vanished, never to be heard from again." Fishlegs explains to him.

"Well, I like a good mystery as well as anyone, but I promised Hookfang we could roll in some yak dung back home." Snotlout tells him. "So you can keep your curse. And you...tears." He tells Tuffnut and he starts crying again.

"Hang on. We at least need to check it out." Hiccup states and gets a plan formed. "All right, lets split up and look around. Look for any signs of a struggle." He tells them and takes Snotlout.

"Heather, you can team up with me." Fishlegs offers to her. "What better place to find a gift for the Dragon Rider that has everything."

"Great idea, Fishlegs." Ruffnut says as they turn and see the twins and Astrid. "Shopping can be so relaxing."

"Therapeutic, even." Tuffnut says while still crying and they go off to find something.

-

"This spear is barbed in the top." A trader offers a weapon to them. "So while the head will slide into the victim, pulling it out is a different story." He says while chuckling.

"And a story I for one would love to hear." Tuffnut says to him. "Chapter and verse, please."

"Hiccup with a spear? Even I don't see that working out." Astrid states and Heather agrees.

"How about something portable?" Fishlegs asks the man.

"Maybe this seax? Made from the neck bone of a dragon." He suggests and gets a death stare from Heather. "Right. I suppose dragon bone is a no-no. All right, all right, I was reserving this for my most special customer but..." he pulls out a map to them.

"A map?" Heather asks.

"Ooh, but it's so much more than just a map. It is told that whoever can decipher it, can find their way to the Treasure of Tears." He explains and Tuffnut starts sobbing again.

"Curse Of Tears, Treasure Of Tears. Makes sense they would go together." Fishlegs says.

"For the love of, Thor, have you no soul?" Ruffnut asks as Tuffnut cries even harder.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Heather says knowing that Hiccup has no interest in Treasure.

-

"The first thing we have to figure out, is there really a Curse?" Hiccup asks as he and Toothless go through the market. "And, if there is, where did it start? Who's Curse is it? Are you even listening to me." He asks and sees Snotlout is standing around with his ring, "Snotlout, where'd you get that?"

"Your saddlebag." Snotlout tells him and waves the ring around. "You should be more careful around here. You know what this thing needs?"

"To be out of your stupid hands?" Hiccup questions and reaches for it. "Give it back."

Snotlout just leans his hand out so he can't reach and laughs when somebody walks up and snatched it from his hands and runs off. Hiccup gets mad and runs after him.

"I'm guessing you want that back." Snotlout says as they start chasing the man.

They chase him through the market and see him pass it to somebody else and they start passing it to several people and now they don't know who has it.

"We're he go?" Hiccup asks.

"I don't know! I lost track of who we were chasing." Snotlout admits as he looks around him. "I hate being confused!"

Hiccup just jumps on Toothless and looks to Snotlout. "Really? I figured you'd be used to it by now." He admits as he and Toothless take to the air leaving Snotlout until his dragon comes

They look and see the ring being passed to someone near the beach and they follow him as Snotlout gets hit by a branch.

Hiccup and Toothless chase after him when they make it to the beach and see he's vanished.

They follow his footsteps and all they see are some scales at the end.

"The footprints just stop." Hiccup says as Snotlout catches up to them. "I mean, he couldn't have disappeared."

"Well, maybe it's the Curse Of Tears." Snotlout guesses as Hiccup looks at the scales.

"I've never seen anything like this." Hiccup states wondering what these came from.

"Me neither." Snotlout says when something wears him up and drags him into the sand and Hiccup tries helping him, but only ended up getting dragged down and Toothless stole his leg in an attempt to pull him out.

-

Hiccup and Snotlout wake up and look around to see they're somewhere underground.

"Where are we?" Hiccup asks.

"Who cares? Look around you." Snotlout says and they see a lot of items are all around them. "Gold, silver, silver, gold. How I love thee to caress and to hold..." he was saying when he finds a skeleton leg and screams back only to find more bones all over the place. "What's with these bones? They're ruining my Treasure pleasure."

"Snotlout, it's not your treasure." Hiccup tells him as he tries standing up. "And from the looks of things, having it didn't help these guys much. We need to worry less about this junk, and figure a way out of heee or all of the Treasure in the world won't help us. First things first. I need something to replace my leg."

"A leg, you say? I have just the thing." Snotlout assures Hiccup before pushing him down and attaches a skeleton leg to him. "Trust me. He won't miss it. Thank you, dead body."

Hiccup gets up and sees that it'll work for now until they're out of here. ?now, we need a plan before that sand thing comes back." He says and sees more of that stuff from the sand. "This stuff is everywhere."

"No kidding. Look." Snotlout says and they look to see something blocking the sunlight and the surface.

-

"And voila. You, my good fellow, are the model of a modern Viking gentleman." Tuffnut tells Fishlegs as he's wearing a helmet that doesn't fit his head and is sideways sideways while holding a colorful club with armor that is just shields tied to his waist.

"Every Dragon leader needs a formal attire. Am I right?" Ruffnut asks.

"Indubitably." Tuffnut agrees and looks to Heather who doesn't even know where they're going with this. "Her fashion sense is dreadful."

"Just dreadful." Ruffnut agrees and the twins storm off.

"Listen, guys, I think we just need to face the hard facts here. There's nothing to get Hiccup that by this point he doesn't have want or need." Heather tells them when Toothless come up to them and roars at them.

"What is it? What's going on, boy?" Fishlegs asks Hookfang as Toothless is trying to push Heather to follow him.

"Toothless, what's going on? Is it Hiccup?" Heather asks the dragon and knows something's wrong. "I knew it. Something happened to him and Snotlout." She says and hopes they're okay. Well, at least Hiccup.

-

Said hiccup and Snotlout are trying to climb out of the cave they're in and that fails as they hear something coming for them.

"Oh, no, it's back. It's gonna turn us into old dusty bones." Snotlout says as he hides behind Hiccup.

"Would you stop whining and get ready to shoot?" Hiccup tells him and hands a crossbow as they get ready when the thief leaps with an ax.

"You." Snotlout states.

"You!" The thief replies.

"Put those things down. Now!" Hiccup tells him. "If we have any chance of getting out of this place, we need to work together." He states and they agree and lower their weapons.

"Yeah, together." He agrees with them.

Hiccup then spots his ring on his belt and takes it. "And I'll take that, thank you very much." He says and pockets it.

-

Toothless lead the others to the beach and they all start looking around.

"I don't understand. Where are they?" Heather wonders when Fishlegs finds Hiccup's leg.

"Whoo! I'll take that." Tuffnut says as he takes the leg and Heather looks at him angry. "What? It's mine. Hiccup willed it to me. He said if anything ever happened to him, the leg was to be bequeathed to one Tuffnut LaVerne Thorston."

Heather just snatches it back from him and they see Toothless is still digging in the sand and Fishlegs sees the scales.

"These rocks looks like..." Astrid was gonna say it but looked to Tuffnut and mouths the word and Tuffnut still cries. "Come on! I didn't even say it."

"Well, I think we should look at that map." Astrid suggests and Ruffnut shows they bought it.

"Why'd you guys buy that?" Heather asks.

"Why wouldn't we? It has two words we love. Treasure, and...you know." Ruffnut states.

"Well, I'm out of ideas. Might as well." Heather says and takes a look at the map.

-

The three men looked around the tunnels and have found no way out.

"I don't think we're getting outta here anttime soon." Hiccup tells them.

"Great. I'm finally rich, and I don't even get to enjoy my fortune. Thanks to Amos the Lamest over here." Snotlout says.

"If you hadn't chased me, we wouldn't be down here in the first place." Amos tells him.

"What?!" Hiccup asks and looks to him. "If you hadn't stolen from me, we wouldn't have chased you."

"Well, I guess we can call it even." Amos says.

"No, we can't! That's not even kind of even." Hiccup says when Snotlout hears something.

"Guys, you might wanna save this discussion for later." Snotlout says as they see the dragon and Amos runs off, waking the dragon and he shoots some form of ice.

"It thinks you're trying to steal its treasure. Don't move." Hiccup tells them as the dragon shoots at them. "Okay, now move!"

They run for the exit when the dragon covers it with its blasts and they run.

Snotlout accidentally shoots off a crossbow into the air and breaks trough the glass ceiling and light comes shining through and the dragon cries out in pain and goes back into the sand.

"Did you guys see that?" Snotlout asks.

"It's the light." Hiccup puts together. "It can't be in direct sunlight."

"Maybe that's why he patched the holes in the roof." Amos guesses.

"No _thank you. Nice going, Snotlout_? Nothing?" Snotlout asks them since it was he who discovered it.

-

The rest of the team are searching and following the map to its location with Heather leading with the map inhand as they come up across the location and Heather starts sprinting with Toothless following.

"Come on, Boy. If this map is real, we need to get there fast." Heather tells the Dragon.

-

"We're gonna die." Snotlout states.

"Shh! Do you hear that?" Hiccup asks him as they hear footsteps. "It came form outside. Lift me up. If someone's out there, we need to make sure they can see us."

They start lifting him up to see if they see anything.

"Anyone out there?" Snotlout asks.

Hiccup looks and sees nobody there. "No. Looks like we're on our own.

-

Heather and Toothless find a hole clearing and don't see Hiccup.

"Is he in there?" Fishlegs asks.

"No, looks like we're not the only ones who got fooled by the map." Heather says looking to other holes.

"We're gonna finds him, Heather. He's out there, somewhere." Fishlegs comforts her as she sits on the edge with Windshear comforting Toothless. "We won't stop looking until we do. Right?"

Heather looks over to Meatlug who agrees and the twins who are taking about the difference between _tear_ and tear. "Wait a minute. Fishlegs, what do you see?" She asks the man looking at the map.

"A reason to throw the twins into the volcano?" Fishlegs asks.

"No. This." Heather explains and she is him the map. "This helmet looks just like that mountain peak there. And these axes? They line up with the trees. These are all landmarks."

Fishlegs looks closely and sees that she's correct. "And when you line them up, look what happenes." Heather finishes and snows that the _X_ leads to a small clearing. "Come on!"

-

Time passes and they're working on a way to get out of here and they start towering the junk as Hiccup works on creating a trap for the Sandbuster.

"You don't really think this thing will hold?" Amos asks them.

"As long as we get Hiccup to climb it. It'll hold his scrawny butt, no problem." Snotlout says as Hiccup is finishing the trap. "I thought you were building a cage."

"Yes, Snotlout. I did." Hiccup tells him as he's pulling on a rope.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but don't cages have I don't know, locks, bars, walls?" Snotlout asks of him.

"Trust me. This is going to work." Hiccup promises. "Now let's get up that tower. Did you make sure it was sturdy?" He asks them.

"It's fine." Snotlout promises and Hiccup starts climbing it,

The Sandbuster comes in and the two men scream.

"Sandbuster! Sandbuster!" Snotlout screams as he and Amos run off.

Hiccup waits and then leaps on a makeshift catapult and breaks a hole in the ceiling and keeps going and traps him in a cage of light.

"See? Cage." Hiccup tells them. "Now, for our exit." He says and starts climbing when the Sandbuster starts closing the holes and knocks the tower, collapsing it.

Hiccup looses the ring during the fall and it lands near the Sandbuster. "Hey, don't touch that! I need that!"

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure he cares about that." Snotlout says as they get up and Hiccup gets an idea as he runs underneath the Sandbuster and uses the ring in the small bit of light to keep him back.

"You guys run. I'll keep it busy." Hiccup tells them.

"Right. Sounds good to me." Amos agrees and tries running when Snotlout stops him.

"Stand down, Amos the lamest. We're not going anywhere without that guy. Got it?" Snotlout informs him.

"Then we're all going to die where we stand!" Amos says when a plasma blast comes followed by a call of a Night Fury and the Riders come in with Heather riding Toothless.

"You were saying?" Hiccup asks as the dragons scare off the Sandbuster and they pick up the three and make their way out.

-

"I must say, Master Night, you and your team always seem to right the wrongs in this mad, mad world." Johann tells Hiccup. "With the vicious Sandbuster beach closed to oncoming traffic, the flow of commerce can once again, commence. And speaking of commerce, Master Snotlout, I've been admiring your bejeweled weapon. Simply dazzling."

"Save it, Johann, not for sale." Snotlout tells him.

"And with that, I bid you adieu." Johann says as he leaves and Hiccup sees this is a perfect spot to finally ask Heather.

"Heather..."

"Uh, I need to check on Windshear." Heather says and Hiccup stops her.

"No, you don't." Hiccup tells her knowing she's trying to get away. "You need to stand right here and take this in. When we went to Arendelle, I asked Elsa if she knew anyone who could make something special. And..." he hold sout the ring and Heather looks shocked and lets out a slight gasp. "Heather, you've become the most important person in my life. You always have been, and I want to stay by your side forever. So, what do you say?"

"Oh, Hiccup." Heather whispers and smiles at him. "Yes! You only had to ask." She says and Hiccup slips the ring in and they engulf each other and kiss as happy as can be.

The only thing they have left to deal with is Viggo.


	26. Living on the edge

It took months of planning, and now Hiccup has the plan put together that will take Viggo down and take back the Dragon Eye.

They're all flying out to Viggo's base with their Berk friends, Defenders of the Wing, and even their Arendelle friends with the water and fire spirit.

"Everyone ready?" Hiccup asks them all and they're all ready. "Let's go in."

-

On the boats, Windshear takes down the men onboard with ease and in silence with help of Mala.

On the island, Snotlout lands near several of the men. "Hello." He greets and the men all go running inside a cave in which they're blasted by Elsa who was waiting for them.

Inside the cave near the base, the twins are gassing it up with their dragon and flying all throughout.

"One for the gold, two for the show..." Tuffnut starts.

"Three to get Barf and Belch ready, and four for the blow." Ruffnut finishes and they spark the gas, sending the Hunters flying.

Ryker runs to the explosion and is met by Skullcrusher and Stoick. "Ryker! So nice to meet you."

Gobber comes in and drops on top of Ryker with Grump. "Even if it's just for a moment."

Hiccup comes flying in with Mala who's men have taken care of the rest of his men.

"He's all yours, Hiccup Haddock." Mala assures him and moves the cloth for him to enter.

Viggo sees him and reaches for his weapon when Toothless stops him with a plasma blast and Hiccup grabs the Dragon Eye.

"I'll take that." Hiccup tells him, knowing Viggo's reign of terror is over without the Eye.

-

"Really? _I'll take that_?" Tuffnut asks, referring to the plan as they're all at Berk talking about the plan, making sure its flawless with all their allies there. "Seriously? That's the best you can come up with? This is your moment, H. Books will be written about it. Children will act it out. Some adults will act it out, but it won't be as cute as the children. You need a killer catchphrase. One line that will withstand the test of time. As the sands in the oceans pass, your words will remain. I mean, you've just defeated one of the toughest, most ruthless billains in the world."

"Who, let's face it, everyone thought was smarter than you." Ruffnut says.

"Really? Everyone?" Hiccup asks.

"Well, there's no hard data, but if you had to guess..." Tuffnut says.

"Okay, I'll tell you what, I'll work on something cool to say to him when I take him down. Happy?" Hiccup asks him.

"Uh, Uh, Uh. _Au contraire, mon frère_. We will work on something better for you to say to him when we take him down." Tuffnut assures him. "Trust us, we've gotcha. It should be something with a growl," he says as they walk off.

They later head out and Hiccup gets pulled aside by Heather who was absent during the planning.

"It looks like it went over well." Heather says seeing they're all ready to head out.

"Well, it wouldn't have been this way without your help." Hiccup tells her. "I couldn't have done any of this without you."

"Night and Shadow Rider, the unstoppable team." Heather says and leans against the wall.

"I certainly think so." Hiccup agrees when they hear Toothless screech and look to see Windshear and him playing around. "Do you think they're...you know, a thing?" He asks Heather.

"You've been wondering that too, huh?" Heather asks, as she was thinking the same thing.

"Hey, so where were you?" Hiccup wonders.

"I...took a stroll, needed to clear my head." Heather explains and then raises her wedding ring. "After we get Viggo out of the way, we can finally get married."

"Come on, I know you're thinking about something else. What is it?" Hiccup says, seeing through her lies.

"Let's just say...I have news for you that could change everything, only when this is over." Heather says and walks off to Windshear and Toothless goes to Hiccup.

"Wonder what's going on with her." Hiccup says and turns to his dragon. "You and Windshear together or something, bud?" He asks the offspring of lightning and death who just looks to his Rider and walks off. "What? Do I take that as a yes or a no?"

-

The team fly off to take down Viggo for real this time and Hiccup keeps a eye on Heather as she seems to be both serious and happy about whatever news she's keeping.

"We've been giving this a lot of thought and here's what we have so far." Ruffnut says, snapping Hiccup from his gaze on Heather and Tuffnut comes closer.

"_Is that an axe in your face, or are you just happy to see me_?" Tuffnut says and Hiccup is confused. "No? Okay, not a problem." He says and swaps with his sister.

"_Viggo, this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me_." Ruffnut offers as Toothless and Hiccup see that's stupid.

Tuffnut swaps back over. "_Good night, and good luck_! Wait, wait, wait."

"Give it a rest, will ya?" Snotlout asks of them.

"We didn't say you were involved in this, Snotlout." Tuffnut replies to him.

"Although, that line wasn't half bad. _Give it a rest, will ya, Viggo_?" Ruffnut says.

"Oh, for the love of...Riders, ready! Just like we practiced." Hiccup says and they fly off to see that the ships have been sinked.

"This is peculiar." Mala says onboard Windshear.

"Yeah, strange." Heather agrees.

Elsa and Anna make it to the island itself and see the fires are out.

"What's going on?" Anna wonders and Elsa was wondering the same.

The twins fly through the caves and see there's nothing there.

"What a rip off." Snotlout complains.

"Looks like someone beat us to it." Fishlegs tells them.

"The question is, who?" Stoick asks as Hiccup and Heather head into Viggo's hut and see that it's been ransacked and the Dragon Eye is gone once again.

All that isn't touched is the Maces Talons board game.

"Oh, Thor!" Hiccup shouts as he throws the table over. "What's it going to take to catch this guy?!" Months of planning was wasted as it seems he's gone and probably long gone.

That's when he heard the gamepiece hit something hollow.

Hiccup looks and sees a board and Toothless sniffs it to growl. Hiccup then moves it to see a trap door and opens it to see Viggo who seems to be hurt and Toothless was ready to fire.

"Whoa, whoa, hold your fire." Hiccup tells him and Viggo looks up to them.

"I never imagined that these words would come out of this mouth, but, my dear Hiccup, I'm overjoyed to see you." Viggo tells him.

-

They bring everyone inside and pulled Viggo from the hole and start waiting for answers.

"What happened here? Viggo, where's the Dragon Eye?" Hiccup asks him.

"Ryker's lost all sense of reason. He's on his own and unfortunately managed to sway the soft minds of the Dragon Hunters." Viggo informs them. "My brother has turned them on their leader."

"And that, right there, is why I'd rather have a sister any day of the week." Tuffnut says.

"Uh-hu." Ruffnut says and raises her hand.

"Not you, obviously, but a different sis." Tuffnut informs her.

"Ryker's plan, as simple minded as it is, is to wipe out the Dragon Riders and all of your allies." Viggo warns Hiccup.

"Yeah, how is that different from every other bad guy we've ever dealt with?" Hiccup asks since even before Viggo they we're threatened with the same thing.

"And defeated, I might add." Heather tells him.

"The difference, my dear Hiccup, is Project Shell Fire." Viggo informs them. "The reason we went to Arendelle."

"You mean when you attacked Arendelle and started stripping it of resources." Elsa corrected him.

"What is Project Shell Fire? A boat? A dragon?" Hiccup asks him.

"In due time, I will divulge all. Project Shell Fire, the location of the Dragon Eye. But only if you help me stop my brother and send me on my way." Viggo bargains.

"Yak dung!" Snotlout coughs. "Sorry, I had something lying in my throat."

"Snotlout is right, Hiccup. We shouldn't trust Viggo as far as we can throw him." Fishlegs agrees.

"Agreed." Viggo also agrees. "Testing me is, shall we say a stretch? Therefore, as a show of good faith, I will tell you where and when my brother will strike next. Give you time to save some of our allies, which he systematically intends to destroy. The next attack will be on the Defenders of the Wing. Followed by Arendelle, your Dragons Edge, even Berk itself, in no particular order. While Ryker is no tactical genius, he still manages to hold some things close to the vest."

Everyone leaves the hut to think of their options.

"Time is of the essence, Hiccup. It is the ability to make expeditious decisions that saves lives." Viggo says as Hiccup leaves.

"There's no way were believing one word this guy says." Astrid says to them.

"But we can't just ignore it." Heather tells her.

"Heather's right. There are too many lives at stake." Hiccup agrees with his fiancée.

"Agreed. Gobber and I will head back to Berk just in case." Stoick promises and they leave.

"Elsa, Anna, you go back to Arendelle and make sure they can defend themselves." Hiccup tells them and Elsa calls the water horse and they ride off back home.

"Then that leaves the Edge and the Defenders of the Wing." Heather says.

"And Viggo?" Astrid asks.

"I guess he's coming with us. There's no other way." Hiccup says.

-

They go to check on the Defenders of the Wing and they take Viggo into a cell.

"I don't want to take any chances of him to try anything." Mala explains.

"I don't trust him either. But if what he says is true, your island could be in grave danger." Hiccup explains when several blue shots are fired on the island.

"Now we're in grave danger!" Snotlout says as more shots come in.

"The wrath of the gods is upon us!" Throk says as Toothless stops some of the blasts.

"Believe me now, Hiccup?" Viggo asks from the cell as a blast almost gets him.

"Not even remotely." Hiccup answers him and forms a plan. "Mala, Throk, you and your men keep Viggo locked down. We're gonna fly into the attack and find the source." He says and they all asks off into the skies as more shots are fired at them.

"I mean, not that we're ones to complain about a totally awesome situation, but, Hiccup, why are we doing this?" Tuffnut asks.

"We have to find the source. The only way is to fly towards it." Hiccup explains and avoids another blast.

"Hiccup, keep your eyes on the blasts." Heather mocks him.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm on it." Hiccup assures her in a mocking tone. "Just stay focused and keep moving forward."

They keep flying and see three Dragon Hunter ships.

"There." Hiccup says as they fly in and attack them to see that there's another one hiding behind the sea sack.

Hiccup and Heather circle it only to see nothings there.

-

They fly back to the island and see that Viggo escaped.

"The explosions allowed him to slip away." Throk explains. "I...I have failed you."

"You sure did, Throkman." Snotlout agrees.

"I can't believe I fell for it. What was I thinking?" Hiccup asks.

"Now, there's a good question. I personally wouldn't have-"

"Snotlout, be quiet." Heather warns him.

"We can't focus on Viggo right now. We need to get back to the Edge. We don't know where the next attack will happen." Hiccup says and climbs on Toothless and turns to Mala. "Send a Terror Mail I'd you need us." He then takes to the skies with the others.

-

"The problem is, we've been thinking like Viggo." Hiccup tells Heather as they make it back to the Edge and are coming with a new plan. "We have to start thinking like Ryker."

"Good luck with that." Heather says jokingly.

Hiccup looks up to her and sees she's hiding something that's causing her to be happy and sorta nervous. He could tell with the way she's holding herself.

"Is everything all right with you?" Hiccup asks, starting to get worried. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" He reminds her and takes her hand in his.

"I know, it's...I wanna tell you when the time is right." Heather promises and Hiccup is okay with that when the door opens and the twins are there.

"Looks like she's got the mace, and I've got the Talons." Tuffnut says. "So, Viggo, it's game over. And we haven't even-."

"Tuffnut!" Both Heather and Hiccup yell, seeing he's still working on his catchphrase.

"Yeah, you're right. I would have the mace, you know, not her. Everyone knows I'm a mace man. Guilty as charged, good looking out." Tuffnut says and they run off.

"As soon as we get rid of Viggo, we can finally get rid of them as well." Hiccup assures Heather.

"Meh, I kinda got used to all of them." Heather admits. "But back to the mission."

"Right, let's assume that Viggo is telling the truth. If you're Ryker, which ally do you hit next?" Hiccup asks and they both look to Arendelle, knowing they must be their next target.

-

The team wait outside Arendelle as Elsa and Anna ready their home for another invasion.

"Hey, H, which do you like more?" Tuffnut asks.

"_My name is Hiccup Haddock. Submit or be filleted where you stand and fed to my favorite yak._" Ruffnut says. "Or..."

"_Oh, you want a battle, Viggo? Well how about I give you a war instead? It's bigger and there's more fighting_!" Tuffnut offers.

"Hiccup doesn't even have a favorite yak. Or any yak for that matter." Heather informs them.

"What about Yakitty?" Ruffnut asks.

"That's my yak, pal." Snotlout informs them. Yakkity Jorgensen."

"And we don't want a war, guys. We want to end it." Hiccup says when a hunter ship comes into view. "Due south!"

"Hiccup, is that a white flag?" Heather asks and Hiccup looks to see it is in fact.

"Yeah...except that's not the weirdest part." Hiccup says as he sees the person waving the flag is Ryker.

They fly in and see Ryker on the ship alone and he explains what happened that Viggo betrayed him.

"Funny. That's the exact same story Viggo told us, but he said your the one who flipped." Hiccup informs him.

"Yeah? Then where is he?" Ryker asks and he's got them there. "Let me ask you this. Between Viggo and myself, who has more of an interest in you, Hiccup?"

Hiccup thinks and knows Viggo is the one who's been trying to outsmart him constantly, Ryker was just along for the ride.

"Exactly. It's Viggo who's lost his mind. It's Viggo who came up and built the Shell Fire. It's Viggo who wants a war. But it's Ryker who has the Dragon Eye." Ryker tells them.

"Great. Where is it?" Hiccup asks.

"Don't worry. It's safely hidden." Ryker assures him. "Think about it, if Viggo had the Shell Fire and the Dragon Eye, what would he do? He'd set you up. Which is exactly what my beloved brother is doing."

"Oh, that's great! Another lunatic dragon hunter that we can't trust." Snotlout states when they hear fire and see the attack on Arendelle and they need to head there and help them.

"You see That, Hiccup? That attack proves what I've been saying." Ryker tells him as he board Toothless. "Bring me Viggo and I will give you what you want. Otherwise, I'll disappear for good, along with the Dragon Eye." He promises as they take to the sky.

They fly off and see that Elsa and the water spirit are creating a wall of ice to shield their home.

"Hiccup, staying together won't help. We need to split up." Heather tells him.

"Good plan. You and I go, and you guys go in to save who you can and meet us back at the Edge." Hiccup the team the plan.

"And where are you going?" Snotlout asks them.

"To find out whatever this Shell Fire is and try to stop it." Hiccup says as they fly off.

They keep going and see more mad more fire coming in.

"Faster, bud! We need to close the distance before it can disappear." Hiccup says as they fly ahead and see a ship.

"It looks like a normal ship." Heather states when the ship rises and a giant Tidal Class dragon appears.

"What is that?" Hiccup asks, as they've never seen a dragon of that size or like that before. "The Shell Fire isn't a ship to dragon, it's both. He's weaponized a dragon!"

They see as they go inside the boat and the ship disappears into the water with the dragon.

"And that's why we're not able to see it or defend against it." Heather states.

"I'm going after it." Hiccup says as he and Toothless dive and see the dragon soar through the water and they rise out of the water. "It's too fast and too deep."

"It can't stay down for long, There's Hunters under those hatches." Heather states.

"But we don't know which direction it's headed or where it's gonna come up." Hiccup replies and tries to think. "We've gotta get back to the Edge and regroup."

-

When they return to the Edge, they explain the dragon they saw.

"If I had to guess, Titan Wing. Bigger than our Submaripper. Long rage firing capabilities." Hiccup explains.

"Tidal Class dragons don't attack humans. It's not in their nature. They're forcing them to do this." Fishlegs tells them.

"We know that they're not above doing that." Heather says and they need to figure out who's in charge? Ryker or Viggo?

"Elsa, Anna, how are things at Arendelle?" Hiccup asks their friends.

"Well, Elsa's ice shield was able to stop most of the damage. A few houses and places were hit, but thankfully nobody was hurt." Anna assures them.

"So, what's our next move?" Astrid asks them.

"I don't know." Hiccup admits as he walks around the room. "The only thing I do know is we've got to find Viggo soon or Ryker and the Dragon Eye could be gone for good."

"Good luck with that. What do you think Viggo's gonna do? Walk in here and turn himself in?" Snotlout asks him.

"I need to clear my head." Hiccup tells Heather.

"I'll hold things down here while you gone. Take your time." Heather informs him as he leaves.

-

Hiccup and Toothless fly to a part of the Edge where he can see his home and all the dragons from.

"It's peaceful, isn't it?" Hiccup asks Toothless as his dragon lies down next to him. "I always have at least a gut feeling for something to do. But this time..." he says as Toothless tries comforting him.

"Perhaps I can help." Viggo says and they turn to face him. "I hope you didn't think I would leave you hanging in the wind. I'm nothing if not a man of my word, Hiccup. Let me guess. Ryker told you I was the one who went rogue. I figured as much. Offered you peace and the Dragon Eye, neither of which he is either willing or able to give."

"Oh, and you are?" Hiccup asks, ready to fight him.

Viggo takes a few steps closer and Toothless is ready to end him.

"As I said, Hiccup, you help me stop my brother and I'll give you what you desire." Viggo says.

"Which is exactly what Ryker said. Word for word." Hiccup informs him.

"But he conveniently couldn't produce it, could he?" Viggo asks.

"But you can?"

Viggo reaches into the back of his belt and reveals the Dragon Eye.

"Now, when will Ryker be arriving?" Viggo asks.

"In the morning." Hiccup says and Viggo walks up to hand him the Dragon Eye.

"Rest assured. The Shell Fire will be with him. Whatever you're gong to do, we must do it together." Viggo tells him.

Hiccup agrees to that and is handed the Dragon Eye.


	27. Lives on the edge

Viggo paces outside the room with Toothless and Windshear guarding him so he doesn't try anything.

"I don't trust the guy." Astrid states.

"You know, he'd actually be pretty fun to hang with." Tuffnut says and they all look to him. "I mean, if he weren't trying to kill us all the time."

"You gotta love the way he talks." Ruffnut agrees with him. "_Hiccup, I'm afraid our time together has come to an end_._ I must now kill you, if you have no objections_."

"Yeah, like he's not gonna have objections." Tuffnut replies. "Then he'll go, _all of your Dragon Riders must also go, with my sincerest apologies_."

"I'm with Astrid. This is all just a big game to him." Heather agrees.

"Ryker is coming to try and wipe us out along with his brother. Are we really gonna take chances with Viggo?" Fishlegs asks.

"You guys are right. I got this." Hiccup says and they bring Viggo into a cell.

"Hiccup, you must reconsider." Viggo asks of him.

"Viggo, I'm sorry. There's too much bad blood for us to trust you'll not do anything but try to, well...you know." Hiccup states.

"And the Dragon Eye's return, it did nothing to assuage your concerns?" Viggo asks.

"Not enough." Heather tells him.

"Ryker will attack this island with my Shellfire dragon. I'm afraid he won't stop until all of you are, well...you know." Viggo promises.

"That's encouraging as always, Viggo." Hiccup says.

"You see, that's just it. I could be of considerable assistance in helping you defend your home if you would allow me." Viggo asks of them.

"We'll take that under advisement." Heather promises when the twins come in with Astrid close behind.

"They're here. Well, I mean not here, but very soon." Tuffnut tells them. "I think we might need to start getting ready."

"Translation, Astrid?" Hiccup asks.

"Dragon Hunters. Multiple ships headed this way." Astrid tells them.

"Come on." Hiccup tells Heather as they get their dragons. "Make sure he doesn't go anywhere." He tells the twins and they fly off.

-

"All right, gang, we have until dawn. They'll be in range by then." Hiccup tells the group.

"Hiccup, I've had a thought. Now follow me on this." Snotlout asks of him. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not completely attached to this place, right? Let it burn to the ground."

The two of them look to him in anger to that he's suggesting they let the place they've called home for over three years just die.

"I mean, it's been fun. Great views. But is it worth dying for? That's what you have to ask yourself." Snotlout tells them. "All right, lets take a vote."

"Snotlout, we're not letting our home just die." Heather states to him, angry he's suggesting that.

"And if we don't stop them here, they're going to go for Berk next." Hiccup adds. "We have to make our stand here and do whatever it takes to stop them. Astrid, you and Stormfly cover the backside of the edge. Snotlout, you and Hookfang get the Gronckle Iron walls up on the huts. Fishlegs, you and the twins be prepared for the first wave of ships." He tells them when the twins come up to them.

"Hey, Hey! _There's no crying in Maces Talons_!" Tuffnut tells them still on the one liner. "What do you think? It's already got the Viggo stamp of approval."

"That's awesome." Hiccup says sarcastically. "Ruff, Tuff, you're with Fishlegs."

"Don't worry your pretty little head. We're on it." Ruffnut says.

"I'm not worried." Heather says.

"Talking to Hiccup." Ruffnut tells her. "You'll have it before you can say _ultimate destruction_, my friend." She says and they leave.

-

as morning rises, so does the Shell Fire near the edge as they start firing at them.

"Incoming!" Snotlout warns as they see the attack coming in.

"Everyone to their huts. We have to wait out the initial attack." Hiccup tells them and they take to the skies to their huts.

Hiccup and Heather go into theirs and close the doors.

The twins make it to theirs and finds chicken.

"So,what was wrong with your hut?" Ruffnut asks Snotlout.

"I was so busy with everyone else's, I forgot about mine." He admits.

They wait it out and see most of the Edge has taken a lot of damage after the attack quiets down.

"Okay, I don't know about any of you, It there's no way I'm sitting through that again." Snotlout promises. "We have dragons. You have an arsenal of them. We should be out there sinking those ships."

"The fire isn't coming from the ships, it's coming from the Shell Fire." Hiccup reminds him.

"I hate to be the one to say I told you so, but.." Viggo says as he shows up.

"How did you get out?" Hiccup asks him.

"My friend, Snotlout was good enough to allow me to use the facilities." Viggo explains and gives Snotlout a shoulder hug as he smiles nervously.

"He did, did he?" Heather asks looking at him.

"What? He scares me." Snotlout tells them. "Besides, when you gotta go, you gotta go. And who knows that better than me?'

"Hiccup, you must allow me to assist you, for the sake of us all." Viggo begs of him. "The Shell Fire's range is over a mile. Ryker is using ships. My ships to be exact, to protect it."

"Then we need to get past the ships." Heather says when another hit comes in.

"And we better do it quickly." Hiccup agrees and turns to the twins. "Ruff, Tuff? You're up."

"We're on it." The twins say and run off with Fishlegs and Astrid to do their jobs.

"Hey, what about me?" Snotlout asks.

"Why don't you look after your new best friend." Hiccup offers.

"Where's the fun in that?" Snotlout asks.

"It's not supposed to be fun!" Hiccup says as he leaves to find Heather before looking back. "And I don't care how scary he is, do not let him out of your site again." He warns Snotlout and leaves.

-

Hiccup and Heather fly out and see there's a lot of ships protecting the Shell Fire.

"We need to slow them down a little and move on." Hiccup tells Astrid and Heather. "If they fire on us, we fire back."

They start avoiding the arrows and Shellfire blasts and make their way through the ships and Heather goes in and cuts one of their ships as more Shellfire attacks come in and they make their way closer to it.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Hiccup asks as they see the Hunters are beating the dragon with boulders. "Of course it wouldn't fire on its own."

"And we can't take them out without endangering the dragon." Heather adds.

"I'm pretty sure that was their plan." Astrid breaks to them as the Shellfire shoots more blasts at the Edge.

"Split up." Hiccup tells them and they start flying around the ships and Ryker is enjoying the show.

"There's no way to control it without hurting it." Hiccup sees.

"We might not have a choice." Astrid breaks to him.

"No, there's got to be another way." Hiccup says when they see Snotlout heading towards them.

"Aren't you suppose to be watching Viggo?" Heather asks him.

"Is that the stables on fire?" Hiccup adds.

"You said don't let him out no matter what." Snotlout reminds them.

"Snotlout, use your brain!" Hiccup states.

"Good Thor, you're so material." Snotlout tells him. "Viggo taught me that. I don't know what it means."

"Go, we'll be fine." Heather tells Hiccup.

"Let's hope this isn't the biggest mistake of our lives, bud." Hiccup tells Toothless as they fly off to the stalls.

-

Across the island, the Tripple Stryke and several other sea are fighting off the Dragon Hunters to defend their home.

-

Hiccup and Toothless fly in and find Viggo inside his cell.

"Hiccup, you came all the way back to rescue me." Viggo sees while he's coughing from the smoke. "I'm honored."

"Yeah, don't be." Hiccup says as he helps him up and out of the stalls. "If I left you here to die, it would make me no better than you.""

"Well, you'll be glad you returned." Viggo says as he regains his breath. "I can help, if you will allow me."

"How? How can you help?" Hiccup asks.

"I can advise you on defeating and stopping my brother and the Shellfire." Viggo promises.

"You got that all figured out, have you?"

"As luck would have it, I do."

Hiccup thinks and allows to see what he has. And if it goes sideways, he can always just push him off mid flight.

-

"Okay, I'm confused. You said keep him in his cell. You can't toy with my emotions like this, Hiccup. I'm too fragile right now." Snotlout says as they all join back together in the clubhouse.

"He's right. Mostly." Astrid agrees.

"If Viggo can help figure out how to stop this attack-" Hiccup as saying when Heather interrupts.

"What if he can't? Or won't? Or a part of the plan?" She asks him.

"Then, we walk into it." Hiccup tells her. "Viggo and I are going to take this thing down." He says and leaves them behind and they fly off.

-

They fly out towards the Shellfire and Ryker, ready to end this war and battle.

"You know, theses word of a tournament. To be hosted by the Tribe of the Whispering Trees." Viggo tells Hiccup as they have a moment alone.

"Is that right?" Hiccup asks, uninterested.

"Maces and Talons? The winner, apparently, receives a life size game set. Made of solid gold." Viggo tells him.

"Oh, lucky him."

"Poor, dear Hiccup. Relationships can be complicated. Am I right?" Viggo asks him and Hiccup looks at him surprised. "I see the ring on your hand." He says and Hiccup sees his hand and ring out in the open. "And while I can't put myself directly in your shoes, I can mostly surely empathize with your situation."

"You can, huh?" Hiccup is still uninterested in what he's saying.

"Absolutely. Having someone you love this much in the field of battle with you. It can certainly cloud the mind, impair judgement. Make even the simplest decisions vexing."

"You know what's _vexing_, Viggo? Is why you're rambling on trying to get inside my head. I would think that, by now, you'd have given up." Hiccup states to him. "I'm focused, I'm clear, decisive. What I am not is your friend, your ally, your Maces and Talons buddy, okay? So let's leave our personal lives out of this and get down to business."

"I'm only trying to help." Viggo mumble.

"Well, if you want to help, why don't you tell me where we're going and what we're doing?" Hiccup asks as they see nothing as they fly further from the Edge.

"Stop, Dragon." Viggo asks Toothless and Hiccup has him stop.

"What's going on? There's nothing but ocean." Hiccup says.

Viggo pulls out a sword behind Hiccup's back as he doesn't notice. "Yes. So, it would appear."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Heather warns and Viggo looks to see she followed them.

Hiccup then turns and sees the sword. "Whoa! Whoa! What the Thor?"

"I'm afraid you may have misinterpreted the situation, dear Heather." Viggo tells Heather.

"Nah, I think I've interpreted it pretty well." Heather says. "Drop it."

"Exactly what I planed to do all along." Viggo says and drops the sword into the water and they see the Shellfire raise up to them.

Back at the Edge, the dragons have started fighting as they were trained to do and take down the ships with Fishlegs leading them, as the other riders go up and see another Tidal Dragon rise up.

The twins try to avoid a catapult of arrows and dive into the water with Snotlout. When they did, the Shellfire sees them and they take back to the skies.

Astrid goes in and gets knocked off Stormfly.

"Time to finish them off. Do it!" Ryker tells the Shellfire and they start beating the dragon and it gets ready to fire when another dragon rises up and fight it.

"What was that?" Tuffnut asks.

"That, my friend, was a Submaripper." Ruffnut informs her brother.

"Where'd that come from? And why is it helping us?" Snotlout asks.

Hiccup and Heather come flying in and watch the fight.

"So the dagger was to stir up the water and cause our Submaripper to surface?" Hiccup asks.

"Precisely." Viggo confirms.

"How'd you know we had one and it would react this way?" Hiccup asks.

"Hiccup. The Submaripper is the natural and hated enemy of the Shellfire. And I learned you had one when I was building the Shellfire. It was a little fact I kept in my tunic for a day just like this."

"The Dragon Eye." Hiccup sees. "All right, the Shellfire is tied up with the Submaripper. This may be our chance to get the rest of the ships out of here."

The two of them go in and start to destroy the last of the ships as the two Tidal dragons fight it off.

"Viggo, I need to drop you on the beach. You're slowing us down." Hiccup tells him.

"Pity. I was going to enjoy watching Ryker go down with the ship." Ryker admits as they land and let him off. "We may be adversaries, Hiccup, but my respect for you is beyond what I could possibly put to words."

Toothless snarls at the man and they take to the sky.

On their way, they see the Tripple Striker is fighting off the ships along with the others.

"Look at that. Their training is coming in handy." Hiccup says and flies off to help the others.

-

The others finally finish the last of the ships and see the Shellfire and Submaripper fight until the ship on its back gets pushed off and Ryker along with it as he screams his brother's name and gets sucked into a whirlpool made by the Submaripper.

"O.M.Thor. The Submaripper. Submaripper-ama." Tuffnut says watching the destruction.

"Hate the smell. Love the dragon." Ruffnut agrees as the Shellfire leaves and the Submaripper starts eating up the last of the Hunters and boats.

-

Hiccup and Toothless land near the volcano and look at the fight and see happy.

"It looks like the nightmare is finally over, bud." Hiccup tells Toothless.

"Are you sure about that, Hiccup?" Viggo asks and he looks to see he's holding Heather with her axe being healed to her throat.

"Viggo. Let me guess. You want the Dragon Eye in exchange for Heather." Hiccup guesses, ready to end this man by himself if he needs to.

"It sounds much colder when you say it like that. But, yes." Viggo says and Hiccup looks mad at him. "While I do appreciate your assistance in putting my brother in his rightful place, I must insist to where it belongs. With me."

Hiccup take sthe Dragon Eye out of the saddle and has an idea to be rid of everything.

"Hiccup, don't give it to him." Heather tells him.

"Come now. Are you willing going to sacrifice you future...all the wonderful years you have ahead of you for that?" Viggo asks and Hiccup comes to terms with what to do.

"Well, I guess when you put it that way, no, I'm not!" Hiccup agrees and throws the eye towards the volcano and Viggo chases it until it falls into the lava.

Viggo looks angry and turns to Hiccup when the ground underneath him collapsed and he starts falling.

"No! Hiccup!" Viggo shouts and Hiccup runs over to save him only to see a splash in the lava follows by his screams and he sees he's gone.

"It didn't have to end this way." Hiccup says, sorry for how it ended.

Heather walks up to him and pulls him into a hug, Happy they're both okay. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hiccup says and returns the hug,

"It's finally over. It is over, right?" Heather asks of him.

"Viggo and Ryker are gone, meaning there's no leader for the Hunters and there's nothing left of the Hunters themselves." Hiccup says and breaks the hug and they see their dragons are happy to see the other is okay and start caressing their faces against each other lovingly.

"Yeah, they're definitely together." Heather sees.

"So...is it time I learn what's going on with you recently?" Hiccup asks her, wanting to know what's going on with her.

Heather looks to him with a smile and is ready to tell him. "Hiccup, when we were on Berk, I paid Gothie a visit as I wasn't feeling...myself recently. Let's just say that us getting married isn't the biggest thing that's going to be happening." She says and places Hiccup's hand on her stomach.

Hiccup is confused when he starts putting the pieces together. "Wait, Heather, you're-"

"Pregnant." Heather finishes for him with a smile on her face.

Hiccup looks to her and just smiles before picking her up, spinning around before placing her down and kisses her for a minute with a big smile on his face. "This...changes..."

"Everything." Heather finishes when they turn and see the others also heard the news and are in shock.

-

What the two don't know, even after their wedding that they had held in Arendelle since they wanted it somewhere nice, and after the others returned to Berk, there was still someone out there they didn't know about.

The one who hired Viggo to hunt the dragons for his army.

Drago Bludvist.


	28. New lives

_**Quimby fletcher (Guest) - Yeah, I kinda tried showing small bits on how they care about each other over the years. Like when Hiccup found Heather after their first encounter with the Dragon Hunters and Toothless wanted to make sure she was okay, scenes like that I was slowly trying to build them up.**_

————————

Toothless and Hiccup are soaring over the ocean at high speeds, spending the alone time that they have together. Hiccup is also dressed in his new improved armor as Thunderdrums come out of the waves as they fly and test out Toothless' new tail and try out his speed and some areal moves.

It has been two years ever since they stopped Viggo and the Dragon Hunters and a lot has changed since then.

Hiccup and Heather finally got married in Arendelle and Heather has given birth to their daughter, Hope Haddock.

But they weren't the only ones to move forward, Toothless and Windshear even had kids of their own. Last year, they had four of their own Night Fury and Razorwhip hybrids. They had the body of their father, but the armored skin of their mother and their tails were a mixture of the geo species. They were just about the size of baby Typhoomerangs but are growing each day.

Heather and Hiccup named the dragons a new class of Hybrid Class called a Razorfury.

The first of them to hatch has a streak of blue across his eyebrows, making him distinctive from his siblings, so they decided to name him Blu.

The second one to be born, they named Echo as to when he was born, he started using his echolocation almost immediately just for the fun.

Then the third of them was the first female Razorfury, they named her Delta.

The forth was another boy and they named him Charlie.

Even everything they do at the Edge has changed. With there being no more dragons to rescue, they spent their time finishing the training of the ones they have and continue raising both the Razorfuries was Hope. Who seems to have bonded with the baby dragons easily.

Knowing that sooner or later that each of them needed some time to clear their heads, Hiccup and Heather have turned their old schedule around. Most of the days were about training the dragons and they now use those days on the babies.

Except they agreed to keep the one day that they have to themselves and if any troubles occur, they send a Terror Mail to the other if they're out like Hiccup is now.

Hiccup spends his day with Toothless as they don't have as much time as they once did and they make up for it on their one day by exploring new places.

Now they're flying up with the other Typhoomerangs and are ready to try out his wing enhancements.

"So, what do you think, bud? Should we give it another shot?" Hiccup asks the dragon who growls in annoyance. "Toothless! It will be fine." He assures his dragon and adjusts Toothless' wing so he can glide on his own.

"Ready?" Hiccup asks as he pulls his arms in position and drops off of Toothless who quickly follows his Rider down and they start spinning around until they face each other and Toothless Let's his tongue hang out happy to spend time alone with his Rider just like the old days.

They keep falling until they see the water coming up and Hiccup pulls out his wings and the two start gliding together. Hiccup punches his chest plate that activates another fin on the back of his suit as they just glide.

Toothless starts blasting in front of Hiccup and he avoids them easily.

"This is amazing!" Hiccup cheers when cliffs appear ahead from the fog. "No longer amazing. Toothless!"

Toothless flaps his wings frantically to get up to him and blasts the fragment and wraps Hiccup up as they fly through the structure and curl up in a ball as they go down a forest until they land in a clearing and Hiccup rotates his prosthetic leg to use it to walk instead of flight and they both stand up.

"Whew! That really came out of nowhere." Hiccup says as they watch the rest of the structure falls into the ocean. He just goes back to adjusting the suit to put everything back into place. "We've gotta work on your solo gliding there, bud. That new locked up tail makes for some pretty sloppy rescue maneuvers." He states as he removes his helmet and ruffles his shaggy hair that has grown out a bit in two years and smiles as he steps towards the edge of a narrow cliff.

They look and see shrouds of massive trees with a sheared ragged peak beyond it.

"Looks like we found another one, bud." Hiccup says when his dragon shorts and hits Hiccup with a pebble and Hiccup looks to his dragon. "Oh, what? You want an apology? Is that why you're pouting, big baby poo?"

Toothless just rolls his eyes and mimicked Hiccup's mouth movement.

"Well, try this on!" Hiccup says as he hugs Toothless' neck and tries wrestling with him. "Oh, you feeling it yet?" Toothless just walks over to the edge of the cliff. "Yeah, you wouldn't hut a one legged...Whoa, whoa! Okay you're right, you win."

Toothless laughs and falls on his back before rolling onto top of Hiccup.

"He's down! And it's ugly." Hiccup narrates as he playfully fight toothless as he swings his paws around. "Dragons and Vikings...enemies again. Locked in combat to the bitter-ooh!" Toothless drops his head to Hiccup's chest, pinning him down.

Toothless then starts licking Hiccup and Hiccup moans in annoyance. "No, Toothless!" Hiccup fights as he rolls over and gets up. "You know that doesn't wash out." He inforks the dragon who just belly laughs at his rider. Hiccup looks at him and swings some of the saliva at Toothless' face and he starts wiping his face to get it off.

Hiccup pulls out a map and flattens it out before taking another piece of paper from his suit and toothless licks it so that it'll stick to the rest of the map. He then sharpens his writing utensil and readjusts his compass.

"So, what should we name it?" Hiccup asks as Toothless starts biting his armpit. "_Itchy armpit_. It is. What do you reckon, bud? Think we might find some Timberjacks in those woods? The odd Whispering Death or two in the rocks? Who knows, maybe we'll finally track down another Night Fury. Wouldn't that be something. So, what do you say? Just keep going? We have to be back by sundown otherwise Heather will track us down, and we don't want that."

They then hear a screech and turn to see a Deadly Nadder approaching them.

Not just any Deadly Nadder.

Stormfly.

"Afternoon, my dear." Hiccup greets Astrid as she drops off of her dragon and Toothless races to greet her and Stormfly. "What brings you out this far from Berk?"

"Looking for you. Heather said I'd find you out on the edge of the world." Astrid explains as she comes up to him.

"Looking for me? And what do I owe the visit?" Hiccup asks, as he's drawing the island on his map.

"Your dad...he gave me some news this morning. He wants me to be his successor." Astrid explains to him and Hiccup looks surprised.

"He decided to make you chief? That's great!" Hiccup says and playfully punches her shoulder.

"So, you're okay with it?" Astrid asks, as she came here to see how he felt about it.

"Why wouldn't I? It's not like I'm returning to Berk for anything permanent anytime soon. Besides, those speech's, planning, running the village, that's not my thing." Hiccup says when he looks up to see how well he's drawing when he sees something. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Astrid asks and Hiccup points her to the direction of smoke in the distance.

-

Toothless, and Stormfly glided over burned trees, charred black and destroyed, some of them even reduced to ashes.

Astrid couldn't help but gasp at the sight that laid before her, around her, and behind her as well. The vegetation was gone, leaving the land black and crisp and burnt. It might never be habitable for people or animals ever again.

They didn't have the slightest idea what could've done this. The air smelled stale and thick, almost like charcoal and a fireplace. The smoke still hung in the air, making it hard to breathe.

They came to a small hill on the dark terrain, and once they flew over it, and they found themselves gasping all over again.

There was a large, white and blue hunk of ice, and even that was an estimate. Jagged pieces were strewn out of it like a lion's mane, some of them short and some of them long. Solid white with some hints of blue everywhere. It looked so sturdy that Hiccup was certain even Toothless would have a hard time blasting it down. It would take _at _leasta hundred plasma blasts before it was down completely.

"Whoa," Hiccup breathed from beside her. The dragons came to a screeching halt in mid-air, roaring and growling at the structure of ice that laid before them. It was such a contrast to the black, ruined forest they had just passed.

Hiccup turned around, glancing at Astrid and he looked just as confused as she felt, and at the same time, worried as well. "Stay close," he told her, and then, he sped on with Toothless and Stormfly following them closely.

They circled the spikes of ice, glancing nervously around it. Hiccup couldn't help but notice pieces of splintered wood caught in the midst of the ice...almost as if the ice had sliced straight through the wood. There was a ship of two, completely wrecked by five spines of ice that shot straight through them.

With damage like this, they would have been surprised if they found any survivors. If this was an attack, no one would have been able to survive it.

Unless the attacker wasn't going for the kill, but that just seemed odd. Who would attack and desolate ships without a reason?

Hiccup heard Toothless growl, and when they looked at what he was looking at, they saw a large footprint in the ground. It was big enough to be able to fit five, maybe even six, Monstrous Nightmares or even three Typhoomerangs.

And, by the looks of it, it was also fresh…

"Hiccup, look!" Astrid gasped quietly, and he instantly looked in the direction Astrid was pointing. Just as they did so, a collective shout of "_fire"!_ cut through the air, followed by a random bola shooting straight in their direction.

"Look out!" Hiccup shouted. Stormfly shot spines at the net, and Toothless fired a single plasma blast, but there were more coming, and they were coming fast.

Hiccup dodged one, and moved out of the way of it, just in time, but then…

"AHH!"

The bola hit Stormfly, pinning the dragon's wings to her side. Astrid shrieked, getting thrown from her dragon's back as Stormfly plummeted towards the land below them.

Toothless swooped towards the falling girl and grabbed her by her leg. With that done, they looked down and watched helplessly as Stormfly hit the ground.

Almost as soon as the Nadder was down, men jumped out from nowhere and began tying her. They were trying to take Astrid's dragon, and for what reason, they didn't know, but they was going to make sure they didn't get what they wanted as they swooped downwards on Toothless.

"STOP!" Hiccup demanded as they neared the captured dragon and her captors.

"Stormfly!" Astrid shouted as soon as Toothless set her down.

Toothless then follows and hit the ground, his rider jumping off the dragon's backs as soon as possible. Men approached them, and Hiccup drew his Inferno sword, swishing it back and forth threateningly.

The men who had once been charging at them stopped, staring at Inferno's fire-lit blade in awe. Astrid grabbed a small, sword-length wooden plank off the ground and held it warningly. Even with a stick, she looked dangerous.

One of them men, one who was tying Stormfly's horns, gasped. "Soil my britches," he said, rising to his full height, stepping on Stormfly's back. "That _is _a Night Fury!" the man gasped. He nudged one of his companions. "I thought it was just my imagination seeing one of them around!" he said.

_What does he mean by that? _Hiccup wondered. He knew there were no more Night Furies left besides Toothless, or the Razorfuries but if this man says that they saw Hiccup and Toothless already...it reminds him of those Hunters a long time ago.

"Looks like our luck's had a turn for the better, lads!" the man continued. "Don't think Drago has one of _those_ in his dragon army."

Astrid made a face. "Dragon army?" she repeated in disgust.

Hiccup looked at Astrid, and then looked back at the men. "Look, we don't want any trouble," he said honestly.

The man laughed. "Ha!" he said. "You should've thought of that before you stole all of our dragons, and blasted our fort to bits!" He gestured wildly to the ice spikes around them and the splintered wood.

"Yeah, look at it!" another one of them men agreed.

"What are you talkingabout?" Astrid asked in clear disbelief.

Hiccup stepped forward, obviously trying to give her the silent message not to attack. "You think _we _did _this?" _he asked. No one liked to be wrongly accused. Even a sweet, kind father like Hiccup.

He and Heather have been laying low these past few years as they never seen theses guys before.

The man laughed again, sarcastically obvious. "Ha," he said yet a second time. "Dragon trapping is hard enough work as it is, without _do-gooder _Dragon Riders sneaking in to rescue them!"

So the men were Dragon Trappers, then. They definitely looked properly equipped to do something like that, and they were professional by how quickly they tied down Stormfly.

"What do-gooder-" Hiccup began, but then, his voice cut off abruptly. "Wait, there are _other _Dragon Riders?" he asked as he retracted Inferno's fiery blade, probably in hopes that by looking less menacing, these trappers would tell him what he wanted to know.

"You mean," the trapper went on, "other than you and your thieving friend from last night?" He jabbed his finger at Hiccup. "You tell me. You may have an ice spitting dragon on your side, and a Night Fury...but we still have a quota to fill. How do you suppose we explain all this mess to Drago Bludvist?"

"Drago what-fist_?" _Hiccup said, laughing quietly. "Does anythingyou say make sense?" he asked the man while waving his hands around.

The trapper opened his mouth, but another one spoke up. "He's expecting a new shipment of dragons for his army by tomorrow," the low-voiced, short trapper spoke.

Another taller one stepped up. "And Drago don't take well to excuses." His voice sounded thick and clogged, almost as though he were congested.

The head trapped pulled down his sleeve, exposing a large, red scar on his shoulder and upper left chest. "Thisis what he gave me the last time I showed up empty handed," he said darkly.

Hiccup and Astrid exchanged disgusted glances.

What kind of horrible person would _do _something like that?

He pulled his sleeve back over his scar. "He promised to be far less understanding in the future," he said.

"Look, we don't know anything about a dragon thief, or...an 'ice spitting' dragon…" Hiccup tells the trapper as he suddenly nodded...was it a signal? A secret signal for his men to attack? "Or, your lunatic boss and his dragon army, okay?" He finished. "Just give us back _our _dragon, and we'll go, strange, hostile person whom we've nevermet."

The trapper shook his head. "Oh, where are my manners?" he said. "I'm Eret." He bowed, but Hiccup could easily see him hiding something behind his back. "Son of Eret." He swung his arm, and his sword was drawn in his hand. "Finest dragon trapper alive!" Eret went on. "After all...it's not just anyonewho can capture a Night Fury."

Toothless roared in outrage.

"And this is Toothless," Hiccup said, calmly although there was an edge to his voice. "He says we're going. Now."

Eret laughed again. "They all say that," he said. "Rush 'em, lads!"

Trappers attacked from all directions, and Toothless fired at a large icicle, and it fell in front of more dragon trappers and kept them back. They exclaimed something they couldn't make out and sprang backwards.

Hiccup drew Inferno once again to cut the ropes trapping Stormfly. The Nadder was freed almost instantly, and Astrid whistled to her. "Stormfly!" she shouted. "C'mon! Go!" She leapt onto her dragon's back, and Hiccup jumped on Toothless' back as well. "Go! Go!"

They shot into the sky, arrows and bolas still being fired up at them.

"YOU WILL _NEVER _HOLD ON TO THOSE DRAGONS!" Eret shouted from the ice below them. Hiccup and Astrid looked back one last time. "YOU HEAR ME!?" Eret screamed. "DRAGO IS COMING FOR THEM _ALL!!" _

Who is Drago Bludvist?

There might be someone who just might know.

Time to pay his father a visit.


	29. Drago What-fist

Soon, the two dragons were above the village Hiccup once called home and began to descent, and eventually landed in the center allowing Hiccup, who was wearing his helmet, gets off the saddle.

"Welcome back, Hiccup," said Stoick much as Hiccup took off his helmet.

"Hey, dad." greeted Hiccup.

"It's good to see you again, lad," said Gobber as he went up to Hiccup and gave him a hug, which Hiccup returned.

"It's good to see you, too, Gobber," said Hiccup as he pulled himself away from the hug and looked at Stoick. "Dad, we need to talk. I really need to tell you about this, new landI came across."

Gobber looked up from his work as Hiccup began drawing the outline of the saddle on the leather. "Another one!?" the blacksmith exclaimed.

Fishlegs strode into the forge, and for a few moments, Fishlegs was there. The boy was particularly fond of new lands and more importantly, new dragons.

"Any new dragons?" Fishlegs asked excitedly; just what they had expected of the boy.

"We didn't stick around to find out," Hiccup said plainly, looking briefly from his work towards Fishlegs. "These folks weren't particularly friendly. They were very...hostile. Even for people living on their own."

"Oh, really?" Gobber asked, sarcasm very clear in his voice. "Your Night Fury, Razorwhip, and Deadly Nadder didn't bring them cheering to the rooftops?"

Hiccup simply rolled his eyes at his former boss. "Heather wasn't with us, she's still at the Edge. Looking after Hope and the Razorfuries." Hiccup insisted. "And they were not the standard, run-for-the hills hoo-ha I've come to enjoy." He set down the charcoal, turning to face his father. "These guys...were _trappers. Dragon _trappers."

Silence fell over the forge almost instantly, the mood having changed entirely.

"You should've seen their fort," Astrid said, waving her hands. "All blown apart and stuck in giant spikes of ice! It was _weird!"_

"I've never seen anything like it," Hiccup said, looking down briefly before lifting his head once again. "And worse of all, they thought _I _did it!"

"Y'know, you bunch are gonna get yourselves into serious trouble one of these days!" Gobber commented, unscrewing his hammer hand and replacing it with a brush, which he used on his mustache. "Not everyone appreciates your way of life."

"Aye, Gobber's right, son," Stoick said. "Best we keep to our own."

Hiccup groaned.

Stoick pulled a lever, and a mechanical saw started. "Besides," he said, "you have more important uses of your time. And so will we once we make the big _announcement!" _He said the last word in a sing-song tone of voice.

Hiccup yanked the lever to the saw, shutting it off instantly. He waited for the motion to stop entirely before speaking.

"They are building a dragon army," he said flatly and slowly as if speaking to a five year old. People outside who were eavesdropping on the conversation whispered in hushed, confused tones. "Or...or at least the guy they're working for is," Hiccup corrected himself. "Ah..." He swirled his wrist a few times, trying to remember the name. "Dargo Bluddyfist, or something," Hiccup muttered.

Something changed in Stoick's features the minute HIccup said the name. His eyes darkened, his smile turning into a frown.

"I'll bloody his fist with my _face_ if he tries to take my dragon!" Tuffnut shouted from behind them, making everyone jump.

Ruffnut stepped up beside him, a look of determination on her face. "Or mine!" she agreed.

Tuffnut groaned, his shoulders slumping in annoyance. "Urgh, you're such a moron."

"A beautiful moron," Fishlegs said, almost dreamily.

"Yeah…" Snotlout agreed.

Ruffnut growled in disgust.

Stoick grabbed Hiccup's shoulders, and the boy flinched. "Bludvist," Stoick breathed for clarification. "Drago Bludvist?"

_Now _Hiccup looked unsettled. His father looked absolutely terrified. "Uh, yeah," he said. Then, suddenly, he glanced up at his father again. "Wait," he said. "You _know him?" _

The look on Stoick's face said it all, and Hiccup was able to read it instantly.

They were in trouble.

Serious trouble.

-

"GROUND ALL DRAGONS!" Stoick raced down the stairs towards the dragon hangar, shouting as he went. Astrid, and Hiccup raced after the Chief of Berk, shouting and demanding to know what was wrong.

"What!?" Hiccup shouted. "Why!?" He shrieked. It was very unlike her to shriek, but downing all of the dragons.

Moreover, he wanted to know who this Drag-Face Bloody-Whatsicallit whatever his name was, and why Stoick was so worried about about it. If Stoick was worried about it, it was a _huge _deal. Hiccup's father was hardly worried about anything.

Stoick didn't answer. "SEAL THE GATES!" he yelled instead, waving his hands at villagers who raced to do as he had commanded. "LOWER THE STORM DOORS!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Hiccup cried desperately. "Wait! What is happening!?"

"Come on!" Gobber called to more of the villagers who were standing around doing nothing, obviously wondering the same things Hiccup was. "You heard the man! Lock it down!"

Berkians scrambled to do as they were ordered, turning gates, swinging doors shut, and doing everything required in the lock-down part of the job.

"No dragon or viking sets foot off this island until I give the word!" Stoick shouted.

"Wait!" Hiccup interrupted. He stumbled down the stairs, his prosthetic not doing him any favors. "Just because some guy you know is stirring up trouble in some faraway land!?"

Stoick turned back to face his son, his eyes hard. "Because Drago Bludvist is a madman," he said tensely. "Without conscious, or mercy. And if he's built a dragon army…" Stoick turned away again, shaking his head as he made it down the last few steps, "gods help us all."

Hiccup and Astrid exchanged nervous glances. This wasn't good. This. Was. Not. Good. And Heather was still at the Edge with no idea of any of this.

"Get them into their pens!" Stoick commanded.

"Aye, Stoick!" one of the villagers agreed, turning gears and pulling levers in a frantic haste to do as his Chief had ordered.

"Quickly!" Stoick pressed.

"Dad, wait," Hiccup said, his voice surprisingly calm considering their situation. "Let's ride back out there," Hiccup said once he was sure he got Stoick's attention. "We'll follow those trappers to Drago, and talk some sense into him."

"NO!" Stoick shouted. Heather saw Hiccup jump violently, and she was tempted to do the same. "We fortify the island!" Stoick said.

"But it's our duty to keep the peace!" Hiccup pleaded.

"Peace is over, Hiccup!" Stoick yelled. Hiccup, at this point, looked ready to turn and bolt. Stoick was intimidating. "I must prepare you for war," Stoick said quietly.

"WAR!?" Hiccup blurted. "Dad, if Drago's coming for our dragons, we can't wait around for him to get here! Let's go find him, and change his mind!"

"Some minds won't be changed, Hiccup," Stoick said, his voice surprisingly cracked and quiet, as though he really, truly wanted to listen to his son but at the same time knew that he couldn't. "A Chief protects his own," he finished firmly.

Hiccup stood there, tongue tied, and Stoick turned back around and continued shouting orders. His own is not here, they're all in danger since they're the biggest dragon target.

"SECURE THE STABLE!" he shouted. "LATCH EVERY STALL!"

There was a look in Hiccup's eyes...a sort of distant look that Astrid could see. "Hiccup, don't!" she said in the harshest whisper she could have mustered.

"I have to," Hiccup said without missing a beat. "Heather and Hope need me."

"This way!" Stoick shouted, just around the same time Hiccup mounted their dragons. "Quickly!"

The doors were closing quickly, and Hiccup knew it was now or never.

"HICCUP!" Stoick yelled.

Hiccup flew towards one of the doors, but it sealed shut before they could make their escape. Toothless spun in the opposite direction, towards another rapidly shutting door.

"Come on!" he shouted.

Toothless spun and dove through the gap, ust a split second before the door shut behind them.

"HICCUP!" Stoick shouted in vain, except now, he was fuming. His stubborn child would be in so, _so _much trouble when he finally managed to drag him back.

-

Heather was back on the Edge humming the same lullaby she used on Garth years ago to Hope as she sleeps in her arms and the baby Razorfuries are playing around next to them letting out small screeches that sounded like Windshear's.

That's when they heard their father's screech come through the air and they all know who it is.

The babies run out of the stalls and see as Hiccup and Toothless come flying in and land.

The babies all run up to their father and tackle him to the ground as Toothless just stood by and took it.

Heather chuckles at the babies and how Toothless just allows it when Windshear screeches for the kids to leave their father alone.

"So, what brings you back so soon?" Heather asks her husband as he removes his mask and she sees his worried look. "That bad?"

He brings her inside and leaves the dragons to play and fills her in on what he knows.

"A dragon army!?" Heather asks as her blood boils with rage, but keeping quiet to not wake Hope. These several years have been nothing but save dragons and there's someone even worse than Viggo out there.

Viggo was at least just _catching_ and _selling_. This Drago is _using_ dragons.

But these past two years with no danger, it was the best years of their lives. And now they need to get back into their war saddles and bring back the Night Rider and Shadow Rider.

"What's the plan to stop him?" Heather asks, knowing he has a plan.

"First things first, we need to drop Hope off somewhere safe where she won't be hurt." Hiccup tells her and Heather is onboard with that idea.

"How about with Elsa in the Enchanted Forest?" Heather offers and Hiccup sees that's a good idea as any. Five magicial sprits and one being a friend of theirs, she would be safe there.

"Then afterwards, we find and follow the trappers." Hiccup tells her and they call their dragons.

-

Eret's ship glided through the ocean, and Eret stood at the bow of the ship, overlooking the sea.

"Keep your eyes peeled, lads!" he ordered. "With this wind, we'll reach Drago by daybreak, so best we fill this ship up with dragons, and _quick! _It's no time to be picky!"

"Uh...Eret?" one of the other trappers said, tapping Eret's shoulder, his eyes fixated on the sky.

Eret didn't notice it yet. "Not if we want to keep our-" he started, stopping when he finally looked at the sky. Two dragons flew towards them with three riders mounted on their backs. "_Heads_!" Eret finished, excitedly. "Off the port quarter! Net 'em, lads! Take 'em down!"

"Up on the left!" another trapper shouted, and then, Eret got a good look at just who the riders were. The same rider from earlier that day and someone new.

He smiled, aiming a net at them. "You're not getting away this time," he said. "FIRE!" Nets flew up towards the dragons, but each one of them missed. "RELOAD!"

"Come on, reload!" another trapper yelled. "Ah, incoming!"

Heather and Hiccup landed their dragons on the deck of the ship, Heather with her axe drawn as Hiccup took off his helmet and tossed his head, smiling smoothly.

"And here I was worried we might turn up empty handed," Eret said.

Heather bared her teeth, ready to attack. All they had to do was wait for Hiccup to give the word, and then-

"Nope," Hiccup said casually. "It's your lucky day." Then, he raised his hands over his head, still smiling casually. "We give up!" he said as he dismounted Toothless. "That's one Night Fury and one Razorwhip-" He grabbed a net from the trappers and threw them over Heather as she dismounted her dragon as well. "And two of the finest Dragon Riders west of Luk Tuk! That oughtta make the boss happy, right?"

He shoved past trappers. "Excuse us," Hiccup said. Heather didn't know what in the _world _her husband was thinking, but she trusted him. If he was doing this, he must have had a good plan.

Right?

He was Hiccup. He _always _had a good plan, no matter what the situation was or how crazy the plan seemed. She didn't know what his plan was, exactly, but she knew it was easier to go along than to question him. Because sometimes she just doesn't like the answers.

"After you," he said to Heather, and she stepped down, obviously too confused to ask any more questions.

"I trust you have a plan," Heather whispered to Hiccup before she stepped down as well.

"Always," Hiccup said reassuringly. "I always have a plan."

Heather rolled her eyes. "You and your dramatic flare," she grumbled.

He stepped down the hatch himself. "Toothless, stay," he said, and then, he closed the hatch. "The dragons don't really care for cramped spaces," Hiccup said, his voice echoing, "so they'll just hang out with you. They won't be any trouble."

Dragon Trappers pulled their weapons and swords all around them, and Toothless yelped, baring his teeth along with Windshear getting her tail ready for attack. Hiccup slid the hatch open again and poked his head through it. "Unless you do that!" he said. "You know...wooden boat, big ocean...how's your swimming?"

"Not good," one of the trappers said, his eyes wide as he came to the realization as if it had just occurred to him.

Hiccup lit Inferno, and a burst of flame shot up from it. The trappers jumped at the sight of it, and Hiccup retracted the blade again. "Oops!" he said. "Almost forgot!" He flicked his hair and handed the nearest trapper the weapon. "Can't have armed prisoners!"

"How is this a plan?" Heather whispered. Hiccup simply waved his hand at her. She knew better than to question his methods, really, she did...but it would help if she knew what he was planning at least this time.

One of the trappers took Inferno and held it cautiously, looking it over. He clicked one of the switches, and the pommel of the hilt began expelling green gas.

"Just what ever Dragon Trapper needs!" Hiccup said in a tone that sounded far too cheery. "One end coats the blade in Monstrous Nightmare saliva. The other sprays Hideous Zippleback gas." Hiccup sank back into the hatch, keeping his head down. "All it takes is a spark, and…"

Hiccup looked back at Heather. "Duck," he whispered.

They dove for cover instantly, and just as they did so, an explosion swept over the deck of the ship, followed by a thick smoke cloud. Hiccup looked back up the hatch, smiling in satisfaction.

_Oooooh, so _that _was his plan_, Heather thought.

"Oh yeah, there you go!" Hiccup congratulated. The trappers' faces were covered in soot, and they were holding Inferno as if it would kill them all then and there.

Toothless stood up on his hind legs and began pawing at a floating spark in the air like a cat.

"Once they see you as one of their own, even the testiest dragon can be trained," Hiccup said. Toothless bounded over to him, and Hiccup rubbed his head. "Right, bud?"

Eret ran forward and ripped Inferno out of the trapper's hands. "Give me that!" he yelled, and just as soon after, hurled Inferno into the ocean. Windshear spread her wings and flew after it.

"What game are you playing?" Eret growled at Hiccup.

"No game," Hiccup said honestly. "We just want to meet Drago." He says honestly as Windshear returned, holding one end of Inferno. She dropped it at Eret's feet, and he grabbed it and threw it in the opposite direction. Only for Windshear to chase after it once again.

"Why?" Eret asked.

"Because I'm going to change his mind about dragons," Hiccup said firmly.

Eret and his men laughed in unison. Windshear returned, dropping Inferno at Eret's feet once again. Eret's laughs trailed off, and he eyed the dragons in somewhat confusion.

Heather moved up beside Hiccup. "He can be really persuasive when he wants to be, you'd be surprised. He changed an entire island's mind once. One guy shouldn't be too much of a problem for him."

"Exactly," Hiccup said in reply. Toothless nuzzled him, and Hiccup scratched his head. "Once you've earned his loyalty," Hiccup said, "there is nothinga dragon won't do for you."

"Bah!" Eret waved his hand in disbelief. "You won't be changing any minds around here."

"I can change yours," Hiccup said. "Right here, right now." He pushed Toothless' tail lever forward, and the prosthetic tail fin opened. Hiccup rose to a stand, gesturing to his dragon. "Ah, may I?"

Then, something Heather couldn't make out - a blur of red and black dragon scales - swooped down and snatched Hiccup right off the ship. Heather's mind filled with clouded panic, but then, she heard Hiccup shout, "PUT ME DOWN! SNOTLOUT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

Heather felt a little bit better when she knew that her husband wasn't in immediate danger, but she _did _need to figure out why his cousin was there, and what he was doing.

Toothless roared and climbed onto the top of the boat, relaxing when he saw who it was. Snotlout looked over at Ruffnut and smirked, oblivious to Hiccup's angry shouting. "See how well I protect and provide?" Snotlout bragged.

Ruffnut growled, sounding more like a dragon than anything. Barf and Belch dodged nets and bolas that shot up at them from the ship with expertise, but that didn't mean the twins were any more thrilled.

Heather went for a trapper, bashing his head with the flat of her axe. He crumpled to the deck of the ship, unconscious in an instant.

Well, that was easy. Heather didn't know what was going on, and why the Berk Riders were here, but she had a pretty good idea. They must have followed Hiccup or even tracked them from the Edge.

Great.

Heather knew they were going to get it. If Stoick got the dragon riders back to Berk, Heather wouldn't have been surprised if he threw them all in the dungeon and kept them locked up.

She just wouldn't let that happen. Hiccup was right. They needed to beat Drago head-on, not wait for Drago to attack. If they did that, there was no way they would even have so much as a _chance_.

People would die. It would be a slaughter. Innocent lives would be destroyed, families would be broken, and children would run terrified. Maybe even the children would be killed. Even their friends would be in danger. The Defenders of the Wing, Arendelle could be hit, and especially Berk.

Heather bashed another trapper with her axe, her fury rekindled.

"Aaagh!" Tuffnut shouted, anger obvious in his tone. "What is with all the nets!?"

They dodged another one just barely.

"HEY!" Ruffnut protested. "Watch it! That was close…" She froze when she saw Eret, her eyes widening. Heather looked up at her from where she was attacking another trapper, groaning when she saw the look on Ruffnut's face.

She knew that face. The face of somebody in love.

Great.

Now Ruffnut was in love with their enemy.

This day just gets a whole lot better by the minute.

And she was starting to sound more and more like Snotlout.

Heather tuned Ruffnut out and continued fighting. Hiccup pushed off Hookfang and opened the wings of his flightsuit, gliding back towards the ship. Eret aimed his bola launcher right at Hiccup, ready to fire it.

Heather's eyes widened. "Hold your fire!" she shouted, shoving Eret roughly. The net shot through the air, poorly aimed, and Hiccup missed it easily. Heather shoved more trappers away from their posts, threatening each and every one of them with her axe, even when it wasn't necessary.

HIccup grabbed the rope dangling from the top of the ship and swung down, landing on his feet effortlessly and folding the leather wings of his flightsuit back.

"Uh, WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE!?" Hiccup yelled.

"We're here-!" Gobber landed on the ship. "To rescue...you!"

"I don't _need_ to be rescued!" Hiccup shot back.

"And neither do I!" Heather shouted, bashing another trapper as if to prove her point. "We can take care of ourselves."

"ENOUGH!"

The voice made Hiccup and Heather alike tense, and Stoick landed Skullcrusher on the ship. He dismounted, striding towards Hiccup and Heather.

Now they're in trouble.


	30. There is another

"I think we're doomed." Heather whispered.

"No, we're beyond doomed." Hiccup whispered back.

Eret stepped forward. "Well, didn't you just pick the wrong ship, eh?" he said. Stoick didn't respond. "I am Eret!" Eret said, offended by being ignored. "Son of-"

Stoick put his hand over Eret's face and shoved him backwards without even looking at what he was doing. Gobber hit him on the head with his hammer, and once Eret was on the ground, Grump laid on top of him. Eret tried wriggling away, but it was useless.

"Get...this...thing...off...me!" Eret panted, breathless.

"Anyone else?" Gobber asked. No one said anything. "Hmm, that's what I figured."

Stoick pointed at Hiccup, and then moved his finger to Heather. "You two. Saddle up. We're going home."

"No," Hiccup said without missing a beat.

Heather could almost _see _the anger rolling off his father's in waves. "Of all the irresponsible_-" _Stoick started.

"I'm trying to protect our dragons, and stop a war!" Hiccup defended himself. "How is that irresponsible!?"

"_Because war is what he wants, son!_!" Stoick shouted.

Hiccup lowered his gaze, looking as though he would rather say a million things than stay quiet and yet had nothing to say.

Stoick sighed heavily, and then began to explain. "Years ago," he began, and Heather and the others kept silent in order to listen, "there was a great gathering of chieftains to discuss the dragon scourge we all faced. Into our midst came a stranger from a strange land, covered in scars and draped in a cloak of dragon skin. He carried no weapon, and spoke softly, saying that he, Drago Bludvist, was a man of the people, devoted to freeing mankind from the tyranny of dragons. He claimed that he alone could control the dragons," Stoick continued, "and he alone could keep us safe, if we chose to bow down and follow him."

At that, the twins, Snotlout, and Fishlegs laughed.

"Stupid," Ruffnut cackled, shaking her head.

"Ah, good one." Tuffnut said, wiping a tear away from his eye that fell due to how hard he was laughing.

"Aye," Stoick nodded. "We laughed too. Until he wrapped himself in his cloak and cried, _Then see how well you do without me_! The rooftop suddenly burst into flames," Stoick went on to say, "and from it, armored dragons descended, burning the hall to the ground."

"I…" Stoick continued sadly, "was the only one to escape."

That shocked everyone. Drago Bludvist, this new enemy, killed an entire hall full of Chiefs. If he could do that back then, then there was no telling what else he was capable of.

"Men who kill without reason," Stoick said, "_cannot _be reasoned with."

In their mind, it was all the more reason to go after him now, before he attacked Berk.

"Maybe," Hiccup said, turning back towards Toothless.

"Maybe not," Heather agreed, turning and striding towards Windshear. Her husband felt the same way she did about this situation, and she knew it.

"Hiccup...Heather-" Stoick began warningly.

"We're still going to try," Hiccup said. He jumped on Toothless' back, and Heather mounted Windshear. "This is what we're good at," Hiccup said. "And if I could get you to change your mind...I can change his, too." He patted Toothless' neck. "Come on," he whispered.

"Come on, girl," Heather said to Windshear. The dragons spread their wings, and shot into the sky.

Astrid mounted Stormfly as silently as possible. "Let's go," she whispered to her dragon.

"No!" Stoick shouted, and Astrid froze. "Lead the others back to Berk!" Stoick commanded. "I've had enough mutinyfor one day!"

-

Heather and Hiccup flew through the sky over a bed of clouds. They were silent. Completely silent.

The only sounds to be heard were the beating of Windshear's and Toothless' wings. Heather let her mind wander, thinking about everything Hiccup's father had told them about Drago.

A man so dangerous had to be stopped. He just had to be stopped, before he grew more powerful to the point where he was unstoppable. The Edge, Arendelle, Hope, the Razorfuries, their dragons, and Berk were all in danger if Drago was on the loose.

No one was safe.

Not until Drago was gone.

Across from her, Hiccup balled his fists, took in a deep breath, and screamed in fury, punching the air as if it had wronged him. His anger driven shouting continued for a good five seconds before finally, he stopped screeching, flopping against Toothless' back breathlessly.

Toothless cooed in concern, and Hiccup ran his hand over his dragon's scales. "Don't worry, bud," he said. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise."

Heather looked down at Windshear's neck for a brief moment before turning her gaze back to Hiccup. "Not a bad idea you had back there," she commented. "With Eret, I mean. If you'd had more time, you could have changed his mind. I know you could have."

She hoped she was reassuring him by saying this, but in the end, it seemed to just make him more frustrated. "I know I could have," he said. "I was so..." He squeezed his hands together and let them drop against Toothless' back again. "If I had more time."

Heather turned Windshear so that the Razorwhip flew right alongside the Night Fury, their wings just inches away from each other. "Your Dad's just trying to protect us," Heather said. "You know how it is, wanting to protect someone and never let anything bad happen to them. I know how that is, too. We both do."

Hiccup sighed, and Heather could imagine him remembering all the times he saved her, and all the times she flipped around and saved him right back. The biggest and most memorable time was probably when they first met. Without him, she wouldn't even know where she would be as of this moment.

He saved her then.

Hiccup and Heather were so willing to do anything for each other. They were protective of one another, so Heather understood where his father was coming from when he was protective of him and in extension, her.

"I know," Hiccup said, digging the heels of his hands against his eyes. "I know, Heather. I just wish he would let me try. Give me the chance, maybe. I don't know why he wouldn't. I honestly don't know why…"

Heather nodded, lifting her head. As soon as she did, she froze. "Hiccup," she gasped, pointing ahead of them wildly.

Rising out of the clouds, was a dragon. She could tell that much instantly, but the thing that was most terrifying was the rider.

The rider of the dragon was wearing a blue mask with odd, horn-like spikes that shot out from the sides of it. It reminded Heather of the ice structure created by the "ice spitting dragon" she heard about.

Hiccup groaned. "Aw, come on, Dad!" he shouted. "Seriously!?"

When he finally sat up and got a good look at the rider, Heather could almost _see _each and every one of his muscles stiffen and go rigid. Toothless jerked to a halt, as did Windshear beside him. The mysterious rider and dragon sank back into the clouds, and was gone.

"Ooookay…" Hiccup said, holding it out probably longer than what was necessary. "No sudden moves."

Heather agreed silently, her eyes scanning for any sign of that mysterious rider. Then, suddenly, another dragon and rider shot out from the clouds and arched above Hiccup and Heather with grace, the dragon flapping its wings.

"Hiccup!" Heather gasped. "Is that a..."

"Night Fury!?" Hiccup sees.

The two formed a defense line as best as possible with only two people and two dragons. Toothless and Windshear bared their teeth at the Riders and dragons, but it was clear that the dragons themselves were uneasy, and that was a bad sign.

Was this mysterious rider Drago Bludvist himself? If so, then great. It just meant that Heather and Hiccup wouldn't have to worry about tracking him down.

If not, they might have had an even bigger problem on their hands. Maybe these Riders are the dragon thief with the ice spitting dragon. Maybe that's where the idea for the helmet came from. Who knew? Heather certainly didn't.

"Alright, hold on," Hiccup chanted to himself. Then, he looked at Heather. "Hold on," he said. "Any ideas, Heather?"

Heather shook her head. "None," she said.

Heather hardly got a chance to finish her thought before the Night Fury and it's Rider came in from behind them. She barely had enough time to shout "AAHHH!" before it crashed into her, grabbed her by her arms, and hoisted her higher into the sky.

"Windshear!" Heather shouted. "Spine shot! Windshear!?"

The poor Razorwhip was being circled by dragons as well. Four of them to be exact. Two of them grabbed Windshear and pinned her wings to her side while the other two stood by, probably for backup.

"Heather!" Hiccup shouted. He flew Toothless straight towards her…

Dragons appeared from behind him.

"Look out!" Heather screamed. "Behind you!"

Toothless tucked his wings around his body and barrel rolled out of the way. Heather kicked and thrashed and struggled against the dragons holding her, but it was to no avail. They weren't holding her tight enough to cause pain, but they were holding her tight _enough_. Squirming was useless. There was no escape. She was helpless.

She hated being helpless.

Toothless turned and dodged another dragon, but more appeared out of no where, and eventually, Toothless was overwhelmed.

Then, suddenly, there was a _SNAP_, and Heather could only fear the worst. The snap didn't come from the dragons, or herself, or Hiccup.

It came from Toothless' prosthetic tailfin.

The next thing she knew, Hiccup and Toothless were falling towards the ocean below them. Hiccup was screaming, and Toothless was roaring, flapping his wings desperately in a pathetic attempt to stay airborne.

"Hiccup!" Heather screeched.

Hiccup hit the water, and instantly began sinking. He tried kicking; he really, really, really tried kicking, but he couldn't stay up no matter how hard he tried. He knew the connection rod on Toothless' tail had snapped. It snapped, and since it had, there was no way for him to keep flying.

His prosthetic weighed him down. Toothless grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tried pulling him to the surface, but to no avail. They were sinking, down, deeper and deeper into the ocean.

Heather. Hiccup thought about Heather. He had to get up to her. He had to get her away from those dragons...if that was Drago Bludvist, who knew what he would do to her. He couldn't die here. He couldn't die _now_. He had to find out whether or not she was alright. He had to make sure she was safe, and if she wasn't safe, he needed to protect her. He needed to _save _her.

-

"HEY!" Heather screamed as the dragons continued taking her on. "You left my husband back there!" she screeched, kicking her feet desperately. "The drop was too big! He'll drown!"

She wasn't set down, and none of the dragons went back. She felt overwhelmed by fury and terror.

But mostly fury.

She kicked and screamed bloody murder, thrashing wildly against the Night Fury's grips on her arms. She jerked and wailed, demanding to be let go. She wondered if she could do that thing Hiccup did to get away from Hookfang back at Eret's ship. She tried kicking her legs up and using them to push out of the dragons' claws, but it didn't work, and even if it did work, she didn't know what she would have done.

They were too far away by now. She wouldn't be able to swim back to Hiccup before it was too late. Either he would drown, or she would drown before she even got close.

And she didn't want to leave Windshear, either. The minute they were set down, she would attack, grab Windshear, and go back for Hiccup and Toothless.

She could do that. She would do that.

The dragons continued flying, and Heather kept her mouth shut, mentally planning her next moves. Then, all at once, they came to another lion's mane-like structure of spiked, jagged ice, much like the first one Hiccup and Astrid had come across. Heather held her breath, and the dragons swooped towards it.

They flew over a thick piece of ice, and under another one. Just like that, they were inside a cave, lit by nothing. Shapes moved in the darkness, and Heather ignored them. She was waiting. Waiting to be set down so she could get Windshear and race back to find Hiccup. Waiting for just the right moment to-

More dragons flew in from another tunnel, carrying a Night Fury and its rider in their claws. They dropped Hiccup and Toothless onto the ground around the same time Heather was released, as she wasted no time in running towards him.

"Hiccup!" she shouted. He pushed himself up slowly on his hands, keeping his head down. He coughed and hacked up sea water while Toothless nudged him worriedly.

Heather finally made it to his side, and she knelt next to him and pulled him into a tight embrace. He was soaking wet and freezing cold, not that she cared. He was still alive. His heart was drumming against his chest, and she could feel his heartbeat in their embrace, but she didn't give it that much thought, either. She was relieved it was still beating at all. "Don't scare me like that again," she snapped. "Don't you _ever _scare me like that again."

He nodded and gagged, spitting up more salt water.

"Think you're alright?" Heather prompted, and Hiccup nodded, rising to a stand. He looked at the area and dragons surrounding them in confusion.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Before Heather had the chance to answer, the dragons started to growl and Hiccup pulled out Inferno. He activated it and started swinging it in front of one of the dragons. The rider watched in the shadows as the dragons followed the glow of the sword, calming down.

The flames of the sword began to die down, so he switched it off and took a capsule from his ankle hostler that he put inside the weapon. He spun low to the ground, releasing a green gas that he ignited to make the dragons back off. He then stood up and cautiously approached the dragon with his palm up to do their signature move. But before he could touch it, the rider jumped inside the circle.

The mysterious Dragon Rider stepped forward again, a staff in hand. The mystery person swung it and hit the ground, and instantly, the dragons around them opened their mouths, a slow, burning fire kindled in their throats. Hiccup drew Inferno and swished it through the air. Windshear and Toothless stood behind Hiccup and Heather protectively, the Night Fury wrapping his tail around Hiccup's legs while Windshear did the same to her rider.

"Who are you?" Hiccup asked slowly. "Are...are you the Dragon Thief?"

"Drago Bludvist?" Heather questioned.

No response. The human kept looking at them strangely, moving like a dragon around them. It was really beginning to creep Heather out.

"Do you even understand what we're saying to you?" Hiccup finally blurted.

The rider moved towards them slowly, a hand outstretched. Hiccup shoved Heather behind him with his free hand, his other hand holding onto Inferno tightly. "Stay behind me," Hiccup ordered.

Heather wanted to tell him that she could fend for herself, but there was no arguing with Hiccup, so she did as she had been asked, keeping her hand hovering over her axe should she have to use it.

Toothless growled. The rider put forth a hand, and then, Toothless flopped over on his back, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Heather took a small step towards Windshear, just to make sure this weird rider didn't do the same thing to her dragon. Toothless looked fine, but still...they might need a quick getaway.

Then, the rider put a hand towards Hiccup. Hiccup took a step backwards, as did Heather. All at once, the masked rider withdrew the hand as if something had burned it, and stepped back.

"Hiccup?" a feminine voice whispered. It was muffled from behind the mask, but there was no mistaking what she murmured. Hiccup stiffened all over again, as did Heather. Sure, Heather had shouted Hiccup's name a lot since meeting this weird dragon lady, but now, this woman was speaking as though she actually knewwho Hiccup is.

Well, since it was a lady, at least that ruled out the possibility that she was Drago, but that really didn't make Heather feel much better at this point.

The woman took off her mask. Her eyes were a shade of green, her hair long and auburn with a few tiny streaks of grey in it. Not a young woman, then, Heather reckoned. Maybe in her forties, sounded more accurate.

"C-Could it be?" the woman asked in shock. "After all these years...how is this possible?"

Hiccup looked tongue tied. "Ah...should I…" he began. "Should I know you?"

The woman's shoulders slumped. "No," she said quietly, shaking her head. "You were only a baby."

Hiccup and Heather squinted at her, Heather's mind racing. The woman looked back up at them and sighed.

"But a mother, _never _forgets," she whispered.


	31. Reunions

A mother never forgets.

This woman was Hiccup's _mother_. This mysterious woman, who kidnapped Heather and Hiccup and their dragons, was his mother. Hiccup felt a swirl of emotions. First of all, shock, second of all excitement, third of all joy, and fourth of all…

Gah, who were they kidding? They didn't even know what to feel.

In front of her, Hiccup gasped in shock, taking another small step backwards. The woman who claims to be his mother put her hand out towards them, and then, she smiled. "Come," she said.

And just like that, she turned and raced down another corridor. After exchanging glances, Hiccup and Heather chased after her.

But if she's his mother, who was the other rider?

-

Gobber and Stoick flew through a hail storm, the dragon's wings pounding against the cold air. Stoick assessed their surroundings for any sign of his son or daughter in law, but so far, nothing.

"Boar-headed!" Stoick shouted to Gobber. "Just like his mother! Ah, she could never stay put, either!"

"Ah, they're just twenty!" Gobber said. "And they're Vikings and parents, too! I mean, could there be a worse combination? Ha, when I think of how stubborn and senseless you were back in the day…" Gobber paused, his lips curving into a frown. "Well, not much has changed, actually," he mumbled to himself.

Stoick sighed. "You know what he's like," he said. "I expected a little bit more sense coming from Heather, but Hiccup...he won't give up, Gobber. If they find Drago, before we find them…"

"Bah!" Gobber said. "Nothing can hurt them as long as they've got their dragons with them! They're _dragons_!"

Stoick wasn't listening anymore. He'd caught sight of something floating in a large piece of cracked ice, and Skullcrusher headed downwards to investigate. Stoick grabbed the brown object and held it in his hands.

Hiccup's helmet.

This was bad. Hiccup and Toothless must have crashed, somehow, but where was Heather and Windshear? Stoick put the helmet in front of Skullcrusher's nose. "Find them, Skullcrusher!" he commanded. "Find them."

Skullcrusher roared and surged onwards. Stoick could only hope that if they found Hiccup, they would find Heather as well and stop them from doing anything stupid.

-

"Hold on!" Hiccup called after Valka as they raced through the corridors of the tunnel as Heather followed him closely, as did Toothless and Windshear. "Wait just a minute! I-"

"This way," Valka cut in, turning around to face them briefly before leaping over a stone as if she had done it a gazillion times.

"Wait!" Heather shouted. "Come back here! I have questions!"

"Come," his mother said in reply, maneuvering herself over rocks and between stones, and even under a few more jagged pieces of ice.

"You can't just say something like that_," _Hiccup went on as they make their way through the small corridor, "and runoff! You're my mother!? I mean, what the…? Do-do you grasp not insane it sounds!?"

"Come! Quickly! There's someone you need to meet!" Valka urged, climbing up a steep rock and disappearing over the side of it. Heather and Windshear jumped up it with ease, but Hiccup struggled, slipping every time he was certain he had a grip.

"I have questions, too!" Hiccup shouted. Heather grabbed his wrist and pulled him up with the help of Toothless, and they continued following his mother, who was still jumping around the rocks like some sort of super squirrel. "Where have you been all this time!? What've you been doing!? They said you were _dead! _Everyone thinks you and Hala were eaten by…"

Hiccup's voice trailed off as they stepped out of the tunnel and into the light. Heather gasped sharply as she sees the site.

There were dragons everywhere. Everywhere they turned, another dragon came out of no where. They flocked like schools of fish, flying in dozens of different formations, some of them wrestling another dragon to the ground with playful bites and scratches.

Valka and her dragon were hanging from a rocky overhang, and when Hiccup and Heather saw her, they jumped for just a moment before relaxing again.

"This is where you've been, for twenty years?" Hiccup asked. He sounded breathless in awe and shock. Valka nodded. "You've been rescuing them," Hiccup breathed. Valka nodded again, this time, smiling.

Heather breathed in sharply. "Unbelievable," she whispered, shaking her head. Hiccup picked up his dragon traits of his mother all these years.

"You're not upset?" Valka asked.

"What?" Hiccup asked. "No. I mean...I don't know. It's a bit much to get my head around, to be frank. It's not every day you find out your mother is some kind of crazy, feral, vigilante dragon lady."

"Oh," Valka said, and she laughed. Her dragon lowered her to the ground, and she made her way towards Hiccup and Heather. "At least I'm not boring...right?" she said.

"Well," Hiccup began, "I suppose there is that...one...specific...thing."

She looked from Hiccup to Heather again, this time letting her eyes linger on Heather for longer. "Who is this?"

"I'm Heather." Heather greets her now mother-in-law.

"We met about six years ago. She was alone, had nowhere to go and we've been together since." Hiccup explains to her. "She's my wife."

"Oh!" Valka sees and looks to the ring on her hand. Valka turned from her daughter-in-law to her son, and then back to her. "Well, you two will have to tell me about that whole story sometime," she said.

She looked desperately like she wanted to pull Hiccup and Heather both into an embrace, but she was refraining, for whatever reason. Maybe she was nervous. Making sense. Learning your son is here, married, and she doesn't even know everything else. Like the fact she's a grandmother now.

"We do," Hiccup agreed.

Valka scanned their surroundings once more and looked back at her children, now young adults. "Do you like it?" she asked nervously.

"I don't have the words," Hiccup said in awe, while at the same time, Heather said, "I don't know what to say."

They then hear a similar screech roaring through the air and they see the second rider and hear someone cheer.

"There is someone who's been wanting to meet you for a while." Valka says to Hiccup as the second Night Fury comes in and lands and the second rider, who has a Terrible Terror on her left shoulder that seems to be covered as a post for the Terror, removing her helmet she looks to Hiccup.

"Is that...?" Heather starts and looks to see Hiccup is just as shocked as the girl is.

"Hala?" Hiccup asks looking at her.

The girl walks up to Hiccup and looks over his face as if looking for something when she grabs his leg and lifts it up, causing him to almost slip. "Whoa! Okay, that's my leg." She starts look over Hiccup like some dragon would be checking someone out.

"I like her already." Heather chuckles as she looks over his peg leg and it's mechanics. The Terrible Terror with her started to sniff his leg.

"Hiccup?" Hala asks as she drops his leg.

"Is this really happening?" Hiccup asks when they turn to their Night Furies who sniff each other as if they should know each other and they start tackling one another.

"That's unexpected." Heather comments when Valka looks over Toothless.

"Scarlett, what are you doing?" Hala asks her dragon.

"Who's this little guy?" Heather asks looking to the Terror.

"Oh, this is Shortstuff. I found him when he was just an egg and I was about five. When he hatched, I was the first thing he saw and he grew a bond with me." Hala explains while letting the dragon. "And you are...?"

"I'm Heather...Your sister in law." Heather tells her and Hala is shocked and look to Hiccup.

"My brother is married?!" Hala asks.

"Oh, he's beautiful!" Valka said in amazement to Toothless as he rubbed against her hand, his tongue flopping out of his mouth. "Oh, incredible!" Valka said. Toothless pressed against her and rolled over on his back, his head in her lap. "Oh, and look!" Valka said, excitedly. "They're both the same age as you two!"

Hiccup laughed softly, as did Heather beside him. He put his hand on her shoulder, she looked up at him, and they both smiled.

This was his mother, and sister, and they were just as much of a dragon lover as he and his wife were.

"Ha, no wonder you get along so well," Valka continued. "They could possibly be from the same nest!" She said, practically implying that the brother and sister are riding dragons that are also brother and sister. "How did you manage to…" Her voice trailed off, and Hiccup spoke.

"I found him in the woods." Hiccup said. "He was...um...shot down, and wounded." Hiccup put his hands behind his back and nodded as if trying to reassure himself.

Valka looked up at him and stepped away from Toothless, towards another dragon Heather had noticed when they walked in. "This Snafflefang lost his leg to one of Drago Bludvist's iron traps," she said sadly. Without waiting for Hiccup to respond, she walked towards another maimed dragon. "This Raincutter had her wing sliced open by razor netting," she said.

They couldn't imagine something like that happening to their dragons, but they've had a few cases like that back at the Edge. The thought was almost too horrifying. Heather beckoned to her dragon, and Windshear licked her cheek. Heather never wanted anything to happen to her dragon.

Hala walked towards one last dragon. This particular dragon's eyes were clouded over and foggy. "And this poor Hobblegrunt was blindedby a tree snare, and then left to die alone, and scared."

Valka knelt beside Toothless' tail fin and held it up. "And what of this?" she asked as even Scarlett too notice and sniffed her brother's tail. "Did Drago or his trappers do this, too?"

Hiccup then laughed awkwardly at the story he has to explain. "Heh, well, crazy thing is...I'mactually the one who shot him down. Hey, it's...it's okay, though!" he promised when he saw Valka and Hala's confused expression. "He got me back. Right, bud?" Toothless cooed in agreement. "You couldn't save all of me, could you?" Hiccup said. "You just had to make it even! So…peg leg!" Hiccup lifted his leg off the ground, his prosthetic in full-view.

Toothless flipped Hiccup up in the air so that the boy landed on his back, and Hiccup leaned against Toothless' neck, rubbing his head.

Valka smiled nervously. "What did your father think of your Night Fury friend?" she asked, motioning to Heather's dragon and then to Toothless. "And your dragon loving wife?"

"Well, I didn't tell him at first." Hiccup confessed. "I ran away when I was chosen to kill a dragon, and that's how I met Heather. But over time, he changed. Everyone did. Pretty soon, everyone back home had dragons of their own." He tells her as Valka scratches Toothless' chin.

Valka sighed in clear disappointment. "If only it were possible," she said.

Heather tilted her head sideways. "He's not joking, we were just as surprised." She said.

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed. "Really, I-"

"Believe me," Valka cut in. "I tried as well, but people are not capable of change, Hiccup. Some of us...were just born different."

She sighed and glanced back at the ground, a distant look in her eyes. "Berk was a land of kill or be killed," she said, and in Heather's mind, she imagined what Berk used to be like, back before Hiccup brought peace between vikings and dragons.

"But I believed peace was possible," Valka went on, and she sighed again. "It was a very unpopular opinion," she murmured under her breath. "Then, one night, a dragon broke into our house, finding Hiccup in his cradle."

"I rushed to protect you as I had Hala in my arms," Valka said. "But...what I saw...was proof of everything I believed. This was not a vicious beast, but an intelligent, gentle creature, whose soul reflected my own."

"Your father came running in at that moment," Valka went on. "He told me to run. The dragon tried to defend itself, and...I suppose he saw me as one of their own."

"And he took you two," Hiccup finished.

Valka sighed, and nodded. "Yes," she said. "You, Hala, and your father nearly died that night...all because I couldn't kill a dragon."

Hiccup smiled softly, exhaling through his nose. "Yeah, it runs in the family." He said smoothly.

The comment seemed to go unnoticed. "It broke my heart to stay away, to keep the two of you away from one another," Valka said to Hala and Hiccup, "but I believed you'd both be safer if we did."

The conversation was growing depressing, so Heather decided it was time to change the subject. "How did you two survive?" she asked.

Valka's features brightened. "Oh, Cloudjumper never meant to harm us," she said, walking towards the cliffside. "He thought we belonged here. In the home of the great Bewilderbeast!"

Looking over the side of the cliff they see a huge, monstrous, white dragon rise up. Its tusks were as white as snow, the ends were sharp, but not pointy. They gasped at it, smiles growing even bigger.

This creature was incredible and large. _Very_ large. It had large spikes on its back, and there were more spines on its head that seemed to match that of the jagged ice cave, and Valka's mask.

"The Alpha species," Hala explained as she and her mother walk ahead of the two towards the Dragon. "One of the very last few that still exist."

"Every nest has its queen but this is the _king _of all the dragons! With his icy breath, this graceful creature built our nest. A safe haven for dragons everywhere." Valka tells them.

"Wait, that's the ice spitter?" Hiccup asked.

"He'sthe oneresponsible for all the destruction?" Heather asks as they make their way towards him.

"He protects us," Valka said, almost defensively. "We all live under his care and his command. All but the babies, of course…"

"What do you mean?" Heather asked.

Hala nodded towards the Bewilderbeast, and when Heather looked, she saw what she was talking about.

Baby dragons were climbing all over him, biting at his horns and sliding down his tusks, growling happily all the while.

"...they listen to no one," Valka finished with a chuckle.

The Bewilderbeast gently blew the baby dragons off his face, and then turned in Heather, Hiccup, Hala, and Valka's direction. He studied them carefully with his old, wise eyes.

"We've lived among them for twenty years," Hala said. "Learning their ways, discovering their secrets."

The Bewilderbeast blew frost towards Hiccup and Heather, and it collected in their hair. Valka ad Hala laughed while Hiccup and Heather desperately tried shaking the snow out of their scalps.

"He likes you two," Valka said.

"Wow," Hiccup breathed.

"Yeah," Heather said for lack of better words. "Wow."

Valka turned back towards their direction. "You two must be hungry," she said.

Heather thought about it, and then, she realized just how hungry she was. "Um, yeah," she said.

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed with a small shrug of his shoulders. "We could eat. I'll have to fix Toothless connection rod before we do, but give me a rock and some dragon fire and it'll take me five minutes."

"Good!" Valka said, almost excitedly. "It's feeding time!" She tells them as Hala whistles for Scarlett.


	32. Feeling free

Astrid, Fishlegs, the twins, and Snotlout were waiting with their dragons on a small glacier. They had been waiting there for a while and no sign of them anywhere, and Astrid was beginning to grow worried. If Stoick and Gobber were just trying to get Hiccup and Heather back, it shouldn't have been taking this long.

"I don't like it," Astrid said at length. "They should've been back with Hiccup and Heather by now."

"I don't like it either!" Ruffnut complained, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Eret, Son of Eret was the man of my dreams. My _everything!" _She threw her head back dramatically as if it would somehow emphasise her words.

Snotlout looked hurt. "But, baby, I grew facial hair for you," he said, rubbing his chin, looking pained.

Fishlegs stepped up beside Snotlout with the same expression. "Me too," he said regretfully.

"What if Drago shot them down?" Astrid said, trying to get back to the original subject. "What if they need our help? We have to find them."

"Wait, wait, what?" Fishlegs asked quickly. "But Stoick said-"

"It doesn't matter _what _he said if they've all been captured!" Astrid shouted back. "Come on!" Stormfly spread her wings and launched herself into the sky, and soon afterwards, the other dragons followed in suit.

-

Eret's ship glided over the water, chunks of ice scattered across the ocean.

"Do we go back?" one of the trappers asked.

"We've nowhere to go!" Eret shot back, holding a block of his ice to his head where Gobber had hit him. "Nothing to sell! And no heads to call our own! If we don't turn up with dragons, and fast-"

Stormfly snatched him right off the deck of the ship, and almost instantly, Eret began screaming. Astrid smiled in satisfaction.

"Careful what you wish for!" She called down to him in a sing-song tone of voice.

"Eret, Son of Eret!" trappers shouted from the ship, but to no avail. They fired bolas and arrows at them, but nothing stopped the dragon riders, and they continued flying until the ship was out of sight.

"What is this!?" Eret demanded, scrambling to grab ahold of Stormfly's leg.

"A kidnapping." Astrid answered cheerily.

"Yay!" Ruffnut cheered, moving Barf closer so she grab grab Eret's arm. "Can he ride with me!?" Ruffnut asked excitedly. "Can he? Can he...?"

Tuffnut shied away from his sister, a look of pure disgust on his face. "Ugh!" he gagged as Astrid rolled her eyes. Tuffnut was just as dramatic as his sister.

"You're gonna show us the way to Drago," Astrid said to Eret, nodding in the direction of the sky as they went.

"And help Dragon Riders sneak into Drago's camp?" Eret gasped. He let go of Stormfly's leg so that the only thing keeping him in the air was Stormfly's claws wrapped around his arm and leg. "Just kill me now!" he said.

Astrid smirked knowjg he was going to say something like that. "That can be arranged," she assured him. "Stormfly, drop it." She commanded her dragon, and Stormfly was more than happy to oblige. Eret gasped, and Stormfly released the trapper, who soon began screaming.

"Good girl!" She said, rubbing her dragon's neck in congratulations. "Now, Stormfly, fetch!" she cheered. Stormfly chirped in agreement and soared downwards towards the falling dragon trapper.

"All right!!" Eret screeched. "Okay! I'll take you to Drago!" He agrees.

Stormfly snatched him up again, just before Eret hit the water. Astrid cracked her knuckles, smiling in satisfaction. "Ha, works every time," she said smoothly.

Hiccup, Heather, Hala, and Valka soared over the ocean on their dragons, the entire flock of dragon's from Valka's dragon sanctuary occupying the air behind them. Heather glanced at them, and then looked back in front of her.

This truly _was _amazing. Heather didn't know a whole lot about Valka, simply because Hiccup never talked about her and neither did Stoick, but Heather was beginning to really love her and Hala already, even in such a small amount of time.

Hiccup had managed to fix Toothless' connection rod by melting the metal back together and using a heavy stone as his hammer, and Heather was glad he was smart and knew how to do something like that, or else, Toothless and he would have been downed for who knows how long.

They even look and see Hala, Scarlet and Shortstuff are flying though the air doing tricks familiar to what Hiccup ad Toothless always do.

"Hey, I-I thought we were going to eat!" Hiccup called to Valka. He sounded more confused than anything; confused and a tad bit embarrassed.

Valka only chuckled. "Oh, we are!" she assured. Cloudjumper spun back around to face Toothless and Windshear, and the two dragons froze where they were in the air, their wings beating to keep them airborne.

For a moment, nothing.

And then, there was a gurgling and a bubbling sound coming from the water below them, and they looked down to watch in amazement as the Bewilderbeast rose up out of it.

Water splashed in all directions, and they were glad to be high enough in the air to not get drenched. Then, the Alpha opened his mouth, and blew fish into the air.

Heather couldn't help but gasp and gape.

Thousands upon thousands of silver, shiny fish rained down around them, and her expression must have been pretty hilarious, because Valka and Hala laughed as Shortstuff flew off of Hala's shoulder to get some food of his own as Scarlett flies around to get her own.

Windshear looked back at Heather, and Heather nodded at the dragon. Afterwards, the Razorwhip shot through the sky, gobbling as much fish as possible.

Toothless dives towards the surface of the ocean, skim the water, and come back with a mouthful of fish so big, it was enough to feed probably three Night Furies.

-

"And from Dragon Island," Hiccup began, gesturing to the map he had unfolded on a snowy glacier they had landed on, "I found this archipelago…" Hiccup looked up in confusion, as did Heather, and they watched as Hala and Valka drew a replica of Hiccup's map in the snow ahead of them.

Heather couldn't help but grin. Now she knew where Hiccup's artistic talents came from. Of course, she always knew they didn't come from Stoick, but it was cool seeing where they came from exactly_. _

"Wow," Heather breathed before she could stop herself.

"There," Valka said as she stepped back. She ruffled Heather's hair, and Heather smiled at being accepted into their family.

Then, Toothless raced past them, a large icicle caught between his teeth. He dragged it through the snow, creating an odd spiral of lines and swirls. The dragon looked so pleased with himself it was almost hilarious.

It went from almost hilarious to just plain hilarious when the Night Fury tried to let go of the icicle and it was stuck to his tongue as if glued there. Even Scarlett seemed to be embarrassed by her brother as she blasts it off him. Before rolling her eyes and dropping into the snow.

-

They were hovering in an updraft, smiling away as the wind blew their hair across their faces. Heather watched as more dragons jumped off the sides of cliffs, spread their wings, and got caught in the updraft as well.

It was brilliant.

Valka then hopped off Cloudjumper's back and onto another dragon's. She continued jumping gracefully from one dragon to another, almost as if she were dancing. Sne walked across Scarlet's wingspan, ruffled Hala's hair, and then slid off the dragon's back.

Cloudjumper caught her, and she glided in between Heather and Hiccup, breathing deeply. "Oh...when I'm up here, I don't even feel the cold," she said, almost dreamily. "I just feel…"

"Free," Hiccup said.

Valka smiled at them, and they smiled back. Their mother spread her hands. "This is what it is to be a _dragon_!" she said as if she were telling them an amazing secret.

"It's amazing." Heather said, almost giddily.

Hiccup smirked at the both of them. "It's all well and good to call yourself a dragon," he said, yanking his leg forward so that Toothless' tail fin was locked, "but can you fly?" On the last word, he leapt to his feet and ran, jumping off Toothless in one quick movement.

"Hiccup!" Hala and Valka gasped, as Heather only smiled. Hiccup was such a show off sometimes.

Before the two could have a full-blown panic attack, Hiccup spread the wings to his flightsuit, the wind caught them, and then, he was flying, gliding smoothly across the sky with Toothless right behind him.

Hala gasped before smiling at her mother, finally seeing that the woman's posture was relaxing, her once terrified expression replaced with one of awe. Heather laughed. "He's an idiot!" she said.

Valka smiled, as Cloudjumper, Scarlett and Windshear pursued Hiccup...just around the same time a small mountain of snow appeared in front of him.

"Oh no," Hiccup groaned. "Oh no...Toothless!"

Toothless was quick to catch up. He must have been expecting something to go wrong, because he was able to wrap Hiccup in his wings and barrel through the mound of snow, hitting the ground.

Valka and Heather landed their dragons around the same time Hiccup jumped out of a pile of snow, cheering. "Ha! Woo-hoo!" he exclaimed. "Man, almost!" he said, turning back to face the Night Fury. "We just about had it that time?"

Toothless sneezed, and then glared back at his rider. He swung his tail at Hiccup's legs, tripping the man just as Hiccup finally regained his footing. Hiccup fell flat on his back in the snow, as they all ran towards him, laughing.

As soon as he was standing again, half examined Hiccup's flight suit, smiling in awe. "Oh, incredible," she gasped. "You are definitely teaching me how to make one of these!"

"Well," Hiccup said, "You're not so bad yourself." He compliments his sister.

Valka moved her hand up to his cheek, and she hesitated just a moment before cupping his face in her hand. Hiccup leaned against her palm, letting out a small sigh in contentment.

"All this time, you took after me," Valka said, her smile only growing. Then, it faded as soon as it came. "And...where was I?" she murmured, sounding as though she were scolding herself. "I'm so sorry, Hiccup," she said, looking back up at her son. "Can we start over? Will you give me another chance?"

The look in his face said it all, and Heather let a faint smile spread across her face.

"We can teach you, both of you, all that we've learned these past twenty years," Valka said as Hala stepping towards Toothless. "Like…"

Hala pressed two of her fingers against Toothless' neck and massaged it in slow circles. Hidden tailfins appeared across Toothless' back, splitting his fins in two and giving him twice the number he would usually had.

"Whoa," Hiccup breathed.

Toothless looked beyond happy, and he flapped his back fins excitedly. "Now you can make those tight turns." Hala promised, this being something she learned from Scarlett years ago by accident.

Toothless, who seemed beyond thrilled by this new discovery, cooed in excitement and bounded around Hiccup in circles before finally pressing his head against his rider's hand.

"Did you know about this?" Hiccup asked as Toothless flapped his new fins once again, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, his teeth sheathed.

Valka chuckled. "Every dragon has its secrets," she said, taking a step towards him again, "and I'll show them all to you."

Toothless, still excited by their new discovery, bounded around the snow and then burrowed beneath it. A lump of snow moved around, and Toothless popped back up right next to Cloudjumper, snow collecting on Cloudjumper's head. The Stormcutter turned his head, dumping the snow right back onto Toothless. Toothless shook it off and showed off his new fins to Cloudjumper, who looked unimpressed.

Valka put one of her hands on Heather's shoulder, her other hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "We'll unlock every mystery, find every last species, together! As mother, son, daughter, and daughter in law! This gift we share...it bonds us." She looked directly into Hiccup's eyes. "This is who you are, son," she said. She smiled back at Heather. "Who _we _are," she said. "We will change the world for all dragons! We will make it a better, safer place!"

Hiccup laughed excitedly. "Yeah!" he said. "That sounds...amazing!"

Valka closed the gap between them and hugged her son tightly. Hiccup hesitated just a moment, but then, he wrapped his arms back around his mother and buried his face against her shoulder.

Heather watched them, standing off to the side, trying not to feel awkward. After a moment, Hiccup's hand grabbed her wrist, and he yanked her into the embrace as well. Hala gave in and joined in as well, turning it into a group hug.

The action sent a short laugh through the group.

Valka's arms were as familiar as a stranger's, but at the same time, there was that feeling of safety that came with being hugged by the woman. Like the first time Hiccup hugged Heather, or like the first time she met Windshear. There was something..._there_. Something unmistakable yet at the same time unexplainable.

Valka pulled away before she was ready to, and the woman stared at the couple for a good few minutes before speaking. "Alright," she said. "Now tell us. How did you two find each other?"

"It's a long story," Hiccup said while waving his arms.

"Well," Valka said, "that's quite alright with me. I love long stories. Hala?"

"I'm all for it." Hala agrees.

"All right." Heather says, knowing they need to start at the beginning now.


	33. Story time

"Okay, so one night 6 years ago, there was a dragon raid. That's when everything changed. That was the night I shot Toothless down with one of my inventions. I told them I had shot a Night Fury down, but none of them believed me...and I'm glad they didn't. When Gobber brought me to the house, I snuck up from behind and went to Raven's Point where I found Toothless tied up in ropes. I was about to kill him, but I didn't because he looked weak and frightened just as I was, so let him go. He bounced on me, but didn't kill me, he just roared at me and flew away. That's what I thought until I went back after dragon training and noticed that one his tailfins was gone and that's why he couldn't fly away. The next day, after handling with Stormfly, a Deadly Nadder, Astrid told me to figure out on which side I was. Of course, I went to the cove to try to get closer with Toothless. After tossing my dagger in the lake, feeding him, eating a fish that was inside a dragon's stomach and trying not to step some lines he drew, we became best friends. That night, Gobber said that a downed dragon is a dead dragon and since Toothless couldn't fly, he was pretty much dead. I knew that since I was the one who took away his ability to fly, I was the one who had to give it back, so I made him a tailfin and after several crash-landings we succeeded, but there was a one little downside, he needed me to control the tailfin. Over that time, I learnt a lot of tricks to calm dragons down so I used these tricks at dragon training and that's how I got on top of the class. When I won the 'honor' to kill a Monsterous Nightmare, I knew I couldn't do it, so Toothless and I left. After a few hours of flying, we came across Heather who was in a wrecked ship. Then I showed her what it's like to be a dragon rider and gave her Windshear, before fighting the queen of a next that was terrorizing Berk, and I lost my leg. We then came across our own home that we call Dragons Edge. After a few months of being there, we eventually became boyfriend and girlfriend. During our time here, we started rescuing dragons from Viking villages and became known as the Night and Shadow Rider." Hiccup tells them.

"Okay, but why did you run away?" Asked Hala.

"I knew someone would eventually find Toothless and I didn't want that to happen, so we left. We wanted to be somewhere where both of us can be accepted. So we just left and became an incredible team." Hiccup explains.

"So, what happened afterwards?" Hala asks, getting invested.

"Well, we've spent years rescuing dragons, and a few years later, we got married and...we even have a daughter." Heather tells them.

Valka gasped. "I can't believe it," she whispered. "I'm gone twenty years and my son has a wife and a daughter."

Hiccup laughs nervously and scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, her name's Hope. We left her with a friend while we were gone. Her name is Elsa and she was queen of Arendelle for a few years, now she lives in a enchanted forest as the fifth spirit of the forest. She has a younger sister named Anna who's queen of Arendelle now. She's married to an ice harvester named Kristoff. And we're not the only ones who's had kids, even our dragons have their own kids we call Razorfuries. We named them Blue, Echo, Delta and Charlie."

"You've gotta show us them sometime." Hala tells them.

"Yes." Hiccup agrees. "But right now we can talk to Drago together." He says, knowing they still need to stop him.

"What?"

"What?" Valka asked in confusion, her smile fading ever so slightly. By the tone of her voice, she thought Heather and Hiccup were joking. When Hiccup and Heather didn't reply, she frowned.

"There's no _talking _to Drago," Hala adds on.

What was so bad about Drago? Even the most powerful of people seemed scared of going up against him.

"But...but we have to-" Hiccup began.

"No," Valka cut in, shaking her head firmly in a clear motion to tell Hiccup and Heather both that her decision was final. "We must protectour own."

Hiccup groaned, and Heather understood why. Stoick was always telling Hiccup that they needed to protect their own, and now, his mother was telling them the same thing. Heather imagined Hiccup was pretty annoyed by the phrase "protect our own" by this point.

She knew _she _certainly was.

"Now come on," Valka said, gesturing to their dragons. "We should be getting back."

She mounted Cloudjumper, and Heather mounted Windshear reluctantly as Hala got onboard Scarlett. Hiccup swung himself lazily towards Toothless, his posture limp and slack.

Toothless grinned at him gummily like an excited puppy. He folded and unfolded his new fins a few more times before finally letting Hiccup mount him.

Hiccup looked at Heather uneasily. "We have to talk to Drago," he whispered, loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough for Valka or Hala to hear. "If we don't talk to him, war will break out, Heather. You know it will, and I know it will, no matter how hard other people try to deny it. Dad said it himself. War is what Drago wants, no matter how you look at it. If we don't go to him for war, he'll come back at us with war. There's no way to avoid it...unless we change his mind."

Heather knew he was right. "As soon as we get back to the dragon sanctuary," she said, "we'll have to go out again."

Hiccup nodded. "Agreed," he said. Just like that, the dragons spread their wings, and took air.

-

Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins landed at Drago's camp, according to the directions given to them by Eret. As soon as they were close enough to the ground, Stormfly released Eret, and with a yelp of indignance, the trapper fell flat on his face into the snow.

He instantly tried to scramble to his feet, but Stormfly landed on top of him, her claws pinning him to the ground. Smiling, Astrid slid off her dragon's back and strode forward.

Stormfly could take care of Eret for now. She seemed to have taken a liking to him already.

Eret, unfortunately, did not feel the same way. "Aaagh!" he complained. "Okay! Look, I got you here, now get this thing off me!"

Astrid turned back at him, narrowing her eyes. "Never take a toy from a dragon," she said. She spread her hands and held them up. "Don't you know anything_?" _

"Gah!" Eret gasped loudly, struggling against Stormfly although it was in vain. "Why does this keep happening to me?" Stormfly wrapped her wings around Eret, which muffled his voice so that Astrid could just barely make out the end.

She and the other Dragon Riders ducked low to the ground and raced towards a small slope. As soon as they reached it, they looked over it, and gasped.

A fleet of ships. Dark, black ships, with soldiers on them, shouting orders to one another while others raced off to do other tasks Astrid didn't want to think about. Ship by ship, Astrid tried to count them, but then found that it was useless. She couldn't count them without missing one, or forgetting which ones she had counted and which ones she hadn't.

She squinted down at the ship that seemed the biggest out of the fleet. Chains were strung about it and then thrown into the water, the metal pulled tight to allow no slack. Bubbles rose up from the water and popped along the surface of it. Astrid looked down at it more intently, trying to figure out what in the world was causing it.

"What's down there?" Astrid wondered out loud. Although she had been speaking to mainly herself, Fishlegs still pulled out his small stack of dragon flash cards and looked them over carefully.

"Large diameter bubbles," Fishlegs counted off, "massive lungs...cold water deep dweller...I'm thinking class five leviathan, maybe six."

Class five alone was pretty big. Adding another class to it made it slightly bigger.

Astrid was formulating a plan in her head, trying to decide what to do and how to break in, when suddenly, shouts erupted from all around her, following by _whiz, whiz, whiz. _Astrid spun around as soon as the sounds met her ears, and she watched as darts sank into the dragons' backs and sides.

Tranquilizers. Tranquilizers shot by dragon trappers.

Astrid really, really, really hated dragon trappers. She could never emphasize that enough. She, the others, and their dragons were now on the deck of the ship, the dragons still tranquilized while the dragon riders had their hands tied behind their backs. The ropes bit into Astrid's skin, and she ignored it as best as she could, wishing desperately that she could somehow get her axe back from the trappers that stole it from her.

And then there was Eret, who was also being held back by Drago's men, although Astrid couldn't figure out why, exactly. Not that she cared.

She wanted to shout, to yell, to scream, to throw insults to the men aboard the ship, but then, one man stepped forward, and the soldiers parted a path for him to come through. He had long, dark hair that was in dreadlocks; not unlike Tuffnut's, but at the same time, completely different. Scars ran across the man's face sporadically and in no specific order. A cloak hung around his shoulders, half of it covering his right arm. It was silver, almost, and looked almost like…Scales.

Dragon scales to be exact.

This was Drago Bludvist. Astrid figured that out easily. What Stoick said about him being covered in scars, and wearing the cloak of dragon skin...plus, there was an atmosphere that hung around the tall, muscular man that would have made almost anyone want to do what he said.

That would explain why Eret had his mind so set on doing what Drago wanted. Astrid understood. Eret was like a slave, almost. All the dragon trappers were like slaves. Some of them might have done it willingly while others were forced, but they were all slaves. All under the power of someone who would have no problem killing them, and probably no guilt afterwards, either.

"Drago!" Eret said, sounding way too cheerful for his own good. He jerked away from the soldiers holding him, demanding, "Get off me!" as he went. As soon as he finished making his break away, he laughed. "Always great to see you, my friend! Keeping warm up here?"

Drago didn't answer. He continued walking forward, towards the trapper, who was beginning to look worried and frightened. "Well!" he said. "As you can see, I'm here right on time with a new batch of dragons, just like I promised!"

Astrid couldn't help but notice how...desperate he sounded.

Then, suddenly, Hookfang stirred and let out a roar of fury when he realized he was chained down and unable to move. "Watch out!" a soldier shouted as he and a few others sprang away from Hookfang. "He's waking up! Keep him steady!"

More soldiers jumped in and grabbed the ropes and chains, pulling on them hard so they could slam Hookfang back to the ground. Astrid looked back at Snotlout, and the boy's fury was not hidden.

"Give me some backup here!" another soldier shouted.

"Watch out!" someone else yelped.

"Drop the ropes," Drago ordered. Astrid winced at the sound of his voice. It was gravelly and dark and deep, almost as though he had swallowed a bucket of nails.

Hookfang glared at Drago, sucked in a deep intake of air, and blasted fire straight at him. Astrid thought for a moment that it was the end of Drago Bludvist, but it was all wishful thinking, she supposed, because Drago pulled his dragon skin cloak in front of him to shield himself from the dragon's fire, and continued walking forward.

Hookfang finally backed off, and when he did, Drago pulled out a large staff, and screamed, swinging the staff in the air over his head. Astrid wanted to cover her ears. The man's terrible voice _paled _in comparison to how terrible his screaming sounded.

Hookfang lowered his head to the ground, just as Drago reached him. Drago then lifted his foot and pressed it against Hookfang's snout. Hookfang didn't even fight back.

"Hookfang!" Snotlout shouted angrily.

"Hey!" Ruffnut protested, but no one was listening to either her or Snotlout.

"What are you doing!?" Astrid demanded, hoping that her voice was enough to make at least _one _of the soldiers turn and answer her, or at least _notice _her, but none of them did.

Drago leaned close to Hookfang's face, staring the dragon in the eyes. "You belong to _me _now," he said.

There were a few moments of silence, and then, Eret spoke up. "And as an added bonus," he said in a very businessmen type manner, "I also caught you their riders. No extra charge!"

"What!?" Astrid exclaimed. Eret didn't _capture _them. _They _captured _Eret _and _forced _him to show them the way to Drago. That's the only way the trappers got their hands on the dragon riders. "Are you kidding me!?" she yelled.

"Aww, but you were so perfect!" Ruffnut complained.

Eret continued talking. "Turns out," he said, "there's a whole bunch of them out there. They're-"

Eret never got to finish what he was saying, because Drago lurched forward, his hand snaking out, his meaty fingers closing into a death grip around Eret's neck. Eret opened his mouth as if to gasp, his hands clawing at Drago's.

"How many?" Drago snarled, right in his face.

Astrid didn't pity the trapper whom Drago was currently strangling. Hiccup would have pitied him, but not Astrid. "Drago doesn't have them after all," she whispered to herself. Hiccup, Heather, Stoick, and Gobber were not in Drago's clutches.

Maybe it was time for her to come up with a plan of her own.

"HOW MANY!?" Drago roared, holding Eret even tighter if possible.

"Hundreds!" Astrid shouted in place of Eret, taking a confident step forward while Drago turned in her direction, his horrible, sunken eyes staring straight into hers. "A whole island full!"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Eret choked out desperately. "My men are hunting them down as we speak. They won't know where you're hiding. I promise you that."

"Oh, yes they will!" Astrid continued, taking another step forward. Drago dropped Eret back onto the deck, his full attention on Astrid. Astrid stepped forward again. Confidence. She had to be confident. "They know we're missing, and they have tracking dragons. If you so much as _touch us_, Night Rider is gonna _kick_-"

"Night Rider?" Drago said in disgust, testing the name on his tongue and saying it as though it were a curse word.

"He's not a problem!" Eret gasped, rubbing his bruised throat tenderly. "Really. Trust me."

"He's only the son of Stoick the Vast!" Astrid bragged, making sure her voice was loud enough for everyone on the ship to hear. "He's the greatest Dragon Master And trainer this world has ever seen!"

"Dragon Master?" Drago repeated. Astrid nodded, and Drago stepped forward, right in her face. "I, _alone_, control the dragons!" he said, and then smiled smugly.

"Nope," Tuffnut said, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "Mmm-nnn."

"Sorry!" Fishlegs said with a half-laugh.

"And unless you let us go, _right now_," Astrid continued, "he will _blast _through here on his Night Fury, and blow your entire fleet of ships to _splinters!" _She thought for a few more moments. Hiccup wasn't the _only _rider who was intimidating. "And don't get me started on his wife!" Astrid went on. "Shadow Rider and her Razorwhip. Together, they're are an unstoppable team. They will destroy your fleet as if it were child's play!"

"Then they'll be crying like babies!" Ruffnut giggled.

"Funny and beautiful," Snotlout said, bumping his shoulder against Snotlout's.

"Good one, babe!" Fishlegs said.

Ruffnut made a noise in disgust and tried to move away from them, but to no avail.

"Yeah," Tuffnut said. "Like babies. They always cry. Real tiny ones…"

Drago grabbed Eret again, holding him tightly by his throat just as Eret got his breath back. "First there was four riders," Drago snarled, thinking of Valka and Hala first then came Night and Shadow. "And now, all of Berk. And you lead them to me!" He threw Eret across the deck, and soldiers moved out of the way, leaving Eret to crash to the wooden floorboards.

"Drago!" Eret cried, sounding very pathetic. Astrid wondered if maybe, just maybe, Eret wasn't all heartless. Maybe he was terrified of Drago. Maybe that was all it was.

But she wasn't going to trust him. No. She didn't think she would ever truly trust him.

"STOP ALL PREPARATIONS!" Drago commanded his soldiers in a loud, demeaning voice. "WE MUST ATTACK THE DRAGON RIDER'S NEST AT ONCE!" He was savoring it, clearly enjoying every moment of everything he was saying. It made Astrid want to gag. "WE WILL TAKE DOWN THEIR ALPHA!" Drago went on. "AND THEN, WE WILL TAKE _BERK!" _

Astrid could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. _Oh no_. She'd revealed too much, perhaps. Yes, she was certain now that she had revealed too much. What was Drago going to do with her and the others? Was Hiccup even looking for them? Eret had said his men were hunting him down...what if he was already captured?

"Drago!" Eret said once again.

"And get rid of him!" Drago ordered.

Soldiers around them took up weapons and got ready to throw them. Eret looked ready to cry. "Oh, Drago please…" he begged.

One of Drago's men threw the weapon straight at Eret, but at the last second, a blur of blue scales ran in the way and shielded the trapper.

_Stormfly_.

Astrid didn't have time to shout or yell at her dragon to get back before another soldier shot a dart at the Nadder. Another tranquilizer. Stormfly collapsed to the deck, sleeping instantly.

"Stormfly!" Astrid cried. "No!" Men held her back as she tried to run forward towards her dragon.

She'd said too much. Way too much.


	34. We are family

Toothless and Windshear were sleeping soundly on the plateau, curled into themselves right behind where Hiccup and Heather were standing.

Baby Scuttleclaws suddenly bounded on top of the snoozing dragons, waking them instantly.

Heather tightened the straps to her armor, and next to her, Hiccup did the same thing, checking each one of the attachments and making sure he still had Inferno. She looked at her husband, feeling slightly reluctant about their decision of leaving so quickly.

"Hey, Hiccup," she said, "are you sure we have to leave so soon? I...I mean...we could always stick around for a few more minutes...or at least say goodbye to your mother and sister…"

Even as she spoke, she knew saying goodbye to them wasn't a good idea. They had to leave in secret, and they had to do it before Valka or Hala caught them in the act. If Valka was as protective as Stoick, she would most likely set packs of dragons to watch Hiccup and Heather just to make sure they didn't leave.

But at the same time, it felt wrong, just to leave without telling them where they were going.

Hiccup shook his head, like she knew he would. "No, we can't," he said. "We're not waiting around for Drago to attack this place. Eret already said that Drago knows where the cave is...there isn't time to waste, Heather. We've gotta find him first."

Heather sighed, mostly to herself, because she knew her brother was right. She nodded. "And then after we find Drago and talk him, or fight him, out of the whole _dragon army _business, we'll come back, right?" she said.

Hiccup nodded. "Yes," he promised. Knowing he wasn't going to vanish on his sister and mother after only just finding them. "We'll come back."

A baby Scuttleclaw bit Toothless' tail in its gummy jaws and Toothless lifted his tail and the dragon clear off the ground, snarling at the baby one. Windshear scared it off, and the Scuttleclaw complained in little grunts and chirps as it flew away.

"Come on," Hiccup said. "Let's go."

Heather nodded. She was about to turn around and jump on Windshear's back, but suddenly, she saw, in the corner of her eye, Hiccup jerked backwards. There were muffled cries; something must have been covering his mouth.

All this happened in a split second, because the very next thing she knew it, Heather had her axe drawn and aimed at...Stoick?

Toothless snarled at Stoick, and then relaxed when he realized who it was.

Hiccup clawed at his father's grip on his face, and eventually broke away, stumbling forward to stand beside Heather again.

"Are you kidding me!?" he blurted.

""What-what are you doing here!?" Heather asks him, putting her weapon away.

"_How _did you get in here!?" Hiccup demanded.

Heather was thinking the same way. They knew the Berk had tracking dragons, but at the same time, it seemed weird that they just suddenly _barged in here _without anyone even noticing.

Well, at the same time, they guessed that he could have snuck in here easily on his dragon.

"The same way we're getting you two out," Stoick replied.

"WE!?" Hiccup and Heather exclaimed in unison.

"All clear!" An accented voice called from behind them, and Hiccup and Heather looked as Gobber motioned for Stoick and the two dragon riders to follow him, waving his hook at them for extra emphasis.

Stoick grabbed Hiccup's wrist and held it tightly, and then, he grabbed Heather's wrist as well. His grip was hard and tight, and she knew that no amount of jerking or wriggling would free herself from the tight clasp.

"Toothless," Stoick began in a commanding tone, "Windshear, come." He then turned and followed Gobber, practically dragging Hiccup and Heather along with him. Heather tried to keep up with with Stoick's long strides, but it wasn't working very well. Hiccup was stumbling across from her, speaking constantly, trying to get his father's attention.

"Ah, Dad!" he said. "There's something you need to know!"

That's when they realized exactly where they were heading: straight for a cave which Valka had said she would be going earlier. Stoick didn't know his wife and daughter were alive. Stoick didn't know that they have survived.

"Stoick!" Heather shouted when Hiccup's yelling got them nowhere. "Listen to him! Or if you won't listen to him listen to _me_! Your-"

"Yeah, yeah," Stoick said as he continued dragging his rebellious, stubborn children through the tunnels with the dragons following them closely. "Tell me on the way."

"This isn't an on-the-way kind of update, actually, Dad!" Hiccup tried.

"I've heard enough, Hiccup," Stoick said.

"It's more of the earth shattering development variety!" Heather insisted.

"I've heard enough from you too, Heather," Stoick said in a flat tone as if he had said it a hundred times.

"DAD!" Hiccup complained.

"Yeah, just add it to the pile," Stoick muttered.

"Dad, unlike most surprises I spring on you," Hiccup said slowly, "this is one you'll like, I promise! You just have to handle it delicately, so…"

His voice trailed off when they realized that Gobber had stopped in front of the opening to what looked like a cave, staring inside it with a look of shock.

This was it.

Stoick was going to see his wife and daughter for the first time in twenty years.

"Uh…" Gobber said quietly, "you miiiiggghhht want to take this one. Oh, boy." He continued walking, straight past Stoick, Heather and Hiccup. Stoick released the youths' wrists at length, just to draw his sword instead.

Hiccup and Heather panicked both at once. "Oh, Dad, can you put the sword away?" Hiccup practically begged. "Please?"

Then, Stoick stepped through the opening, and his eyes widened. He stood as still as a tree, his eyes remaining wide, his expression entirely unreadable. Hesitantly, Heather put her hand on his and pried his fingers away from the hilt of his sword. This was surprisingly easy, and his sword clattered against the ground almost instantly.

Stoick took his helmet off his head and set that to the side as well, keeping his eyes fixated at the sight before him.

Valka and Hala looked back at him with different shocked expression, but she didn't look as shocked to see him as expected.

Gala had no idea who this man was, and wa shocked he got past them. Valka was shocked he was here at all.

"I know what you're going to say, Stoick," Valka said quietly; the first of the two to speak as Hala has no idea who this is, never meeting her father. "How could I have done this? Stayed away all these years...and why didn't I come back to you?" Her voice cracked, just slightly. Valka looked at Hiccup, and then at Heather. "To our son with our daughter?" she continued and Hala put the pieces together that _this_ man, this large, buff, bearded man was her father.

Stoick took a step forward.

"Well," Valka went on slowly, "what sign did I have that you could change, Stoick?" Stoick continued walking, his feet never stilling. "That _anyone _on Berk could? I pleaded...I pleaded, _so many _times to stop the fighting, to find another answer, but did any of you listen?"

"This is why I never married. This, and one other reason." Gobber commented.

Heather elbowed him harshly. _Shut up_.

"I know that I left you to raise Hiccup alone, and I to raise Hala alone." Valka said, sounding on the verge of tears. "I know everything he went through. I know I never even came back, to see if you had changed...but I thought my family would be better off without us."

Stoick was close enough to reach out and touch her at this point, and Valka's voice grew panicked and desperate. "And I was wrong," she said. "I see that now, but…" She looked terrified. Absolutely terrified. "Oh, stop being so _Stoick_, Stoick!" she pleaded. "Go on. Shout! Scream! Say _something!" _

Stoick reached out his hand and put it gently against her cheek, as if she would vanish like a cloud of steam or shatter like glass. Valka stiffened, her eyes filling with tears.

There was a beat. And then, Stoick whispered in the most quiet, gentle tone Heather had ever heard him use. His voice cracked multiple times as he spoke. "You're as beautiful as the day I lost you."

The tears finally broke free. Valka lowered her head and shut her eyes, tears slipping past her lids. Stoick closed the gap between them, and their lips met.

The Haddock family, father, son, daughter, mother, and daughter/sister in law was finally being pieced back together.

Hala was finally seeing her mother, father, and brother in the same place, finally seeing them happier than she had ever seen anyone before in her life.

Since the situation seemed appropriate enough, Hala wrapped her arm around Hiccup's and Heather's shoulders, and in turn, they did the same, smiling at their mother and father with glistening eyes.

They were together again.

Just like they were always meant to be.

-

Astrid was certain that if she made a list of all the bad days she struggled through life, this day would be at the top of that list.

She, the others, and Eret, stood at the stern of the ship. A long, wooden plank was positioned with one end on the ship and the other end hanging over the deep, restless ocean. Soldiers stood behind them with spears, ready to use them should the riders try anything tricky.

"Could this day get any worse?" Snotlout groaned from behind her.

"Uh, let me see," Tuffnut said slowly. "You'll jump into freezing cold water and then die from drowning."

Eret stepped towards the edge of the plank and looked over the side of it, staring down at the water. "Looks refreshing," he muttered under his breath as he turned back to face Astrid again. "Please," he said, stepping out of the way. "Ladies first."

Astrid bared her teeth. She _hated _him. She absolutely hated him for everything he had done to her and her friends. It was his fault they were here. It was all his stupid fault. Him and his trappers ruined her day.

"You," she began threateningly, "are a steaming heap of dragon-"

"Duck," Eret whispered.

He swung his foot before she could ask what he meant, and she ducked on instinct. Eret's leg connected with the soldier's head, knocking him unconscious. He grabbed the spear the soldier had been carrying, holding it in his bound hands. He swung it at another soldier, and another, and another, and before Astrid even knew what the heck was happening, the soldiers were unconscious.

Eret unchained himself easily. It was then that Astrid noticed a soldier speak to another soldier; "Warn the others." And then, said soldier ran off.

Eret noticed it at the same moment she did, and he picked up one of the tranquilizer dart shooters and ran towards the soldier.

"Get 'em, you son of an Eret!" Ruffnut encouraged.

Astrid didn't know what was happening, and she still had about a million questions for Eret. Both soldiers were unconscious as soon as Eret finished with them, and the dragon trapper turned back towards Astrid and the other dragon riders.

"Okay, I love you again." Ruffnut said happily.

Snotlout looked hurt.

"Ugh," Tuffnut said as he stepped beside the depressed Jorgenson. _"_Pathetic. You can still jump."

Astrid disregarded her friends, her attention now on Eret.

Eret smiled. "So," he said, "are we going to save you dragons and get out of here or not?"

Astrid couldn't help the small smile that played across her face.

Hiccup really _could _change anyone's mind about dragons. All it took was a little tiny bit of doubt about how bad dragons really were, and then, that tiny bit of question turned into rebellion against the ones who tried to control the dragons for their own evil doing.

Eret was on their side, and Astrid was going to accept his help if he was truly willing to give it. She nodded.

"Check every trap," Eret ordered. "They're here somewhere."

They didn't need to be told twice. They spread out as if they had did it every day and began prying traps open, pulling levers, and checking inside for any sign of their dragons.

Astrid turned one of the cranks to the dome-shaped, bear-trap-like cage and waited for it to open just a crack before stepping on the handle and hauling herself upwards so she could peer inside.

What she saw was a familiar Gronckle, smiling happily and wriggling against its chains in an attempt at getting free.

"Meatlug?" Astrid asked, just for clarification, and when the Gronckle squealed happily, Astrid dropped to the ground, and began working to undo the dragon's bonds.

Eret cranked one of the handles, turning it with all his might to open another dragon cage they had located.

"Anyone coming?" Asked of Ruffnut, who was watching just a foot away from him, not offering any help whatsoever.

"I don't know, you just keeping doing what you're doing," she said, almost creepily. "Keep cranking."

Eret ignored her, and then the cage was opened, he jumped inside. And there was Stormfly, Astrid's Nadder, who had saved his life.

At first, the dragon struggled, but then, she calmed down. Eret looked at the Deadly nadder, crouched down, and extended his hand towards her. "Thank you," he said, "for saving my life."

Stormfly looked at him curiously for just a moment before she pressed her head against Eret's hand. Eret felt his breath quicken, and he smiled.

"Now let me return the favor."


	35. Protect our own

"Mom, you'd never even recognize it!" Hiccup said excitedly as he crossed the room, a wooden tray in hand. "Where they used to make weapons, Berk now builds saddles, wing slings…" Hiccup reached into a basket of fish, taking some out and putting them on the tray. "Even fix dragon teeth!" he said with a laugh.

Hala batted Toothless' head when she caught the dragon trying to snag fish out of the basket, and Toothless looked at her innocently, obviously in a way of saying, I _didn't do that_.

This whole time, Valka and Stoick were watching their children with amusement as the two ranted and bragged about how much had changed since Valka was taken. All in all, Valka was quite impressed by the two dragon riders.

"Your son and his lovely wife has changed Berk for the better," Stoick said proudly, laying his hands on his wife's shoulders. "I think we did well with them, Val."

"Thanks, Dad," Hiccup said, while at the same time, Hala said, "Thank you."

Valka attempted to carry the tray, but, she stumbled over a very misfortunate placed stone and lost her balance for a few moments. The plate tipped and the fish dumping onto the floor. Scarlett got to it only moments before her brother did, scooping the food up into her mouth before Toothless even had the chance and even Shortstuff got a small bit from her as he lays on the female Night Fury's head.

Toothless looked up at his sister sadly, and apparently, the dragon felt bad for the him, because she regurgitated fish back onto the ground for the dragon. Toothless was more than happy to accept the more-or-less chewed pieces of what used to be cod, slurping it up off the ground.

Heather winced, and Hiccup only laughed softly. It wasn't long before Heather joined in. They both understood the behavior of dragons and got used to how Windshear does the same for the Razorfuries back home, and were used to watching dragons regurgitate food for each other.

Still, though…

"That was kinda gross," Hala commented.

Hiccup shrugged. "It's even more gross when you know what it tastes like," he shivered.

Hala turned to him, confused as Heather already knows the sort. Even though he and Hala were brother and sister, there were still so many things he hadn't talked to her about. Little things, probably insignificant things, but things she felt the need to know.

"What are you talking about?" Hala asked.

Hiccup shuddered and squeezed her shoulder. "Let's just say I've had some unfortunate dragon bonding experiences while training Toothless," he said plainly.

Hala didn't even want to know now.

Valka laughed nervously, and the sister and the brother turned to look at their mother. "I'm…" Valka sighed. "I'm a little out of practice."

"Well, you know," Stoick said, pausing as if to savor every word he was saying, "I didn't marry you for your cooking."

"I hope not!" Gobber said, ruining the moment. Valka handed another tray of fish to Hiccup, and Hiccup instantly took it and approached his mentor, setting the tray to the side. "Her meatballs could kill more beasts than a battle ax!" the blacksmith went on. "I've still got a few knocking around in here." He pat his stomach and chuckled lightly.

Gobber took a bite of the fish, grimaced in disgust, and quietly fed what was left on his plate to Grump.

"And once you two move back, with all your dragons," Heather said, almost excitedly, "oh, Drago won't stand a chance." Honestly, she didn't see how between Valka's dragons, Berk's dragons, and the Edge's, Drago would stand a chance, even if he did have an army.

They had never actually seen Drago face-to-face before, but they didn't think he was capable of doing anything that would defeat these people, and Stoick's people.

"That's right," Hiccup agreed slowly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Everything will be okay!" he said, shutting his eyes and gesturing with his hand to nothing in particular.

Heather couldn't help but agree, but when she looked at her father, she saw him shaking his head, smiling faintly. "Slow down, you two," he said, moving to stand behind them. "It's a lot to take in."

"Oh," Hiccup and Heather said quietly, almost in perfect unison. Hiccup let his arm drop back to his side, twiddling his fingers uneasily. Heather looked down at the ground, unsure of what to do.

"Gotcha," Hiccup said at length, but at this point, no one was listening to him. Valka stepped towards one of the icicles that jutted from the ceiling, a wooden pitcher in hand. She set it under the dripping icicle and held it there as if oblivious to her family for the first time since they were reunited.

Then, to their confusion and slight delight, Stoick pulled away from her and Hiccup, and began whistling.

The whistle was quiet and serene, very peaceful and tranquil. A tone softer than any other noise they had ever heard come from him. Heather, Hala, and Hiccup, as silent as possible, stepped back towards Gobber, Heather at his left and Hiccup at his right.

"Oh, I love this one," Gobber said, almost dreamily as Stoick continued whistling. Heather didn't recognize the tune her father was whistling, but some part of it felt...familiar. Like something she had seen in a dream.

The whistling came to a quiet end, and Stoick took the pitcher from Valka's hands, setting it to the side. Valka leaned against a smooth rock that was serving as a countertop, breathing almost heavily.

"Remember our song, Val?" Stoick whispered. Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he paused, and then began singing. "_I'll swim and sail on savage seas,_" he sang softly. "_With ne'er a fear of drowning_…"

Now that they heard the words, they knew what the song was. It was a commonly sung song during weddings and renewals of vows. She glanced over at Hiccup and realized that the boy must have realized the same thing at the same time as she did, because he smiled even bigger, his eyes fixated on his mother and father. It was the same they sung at their wedding.

"..._And gladly ride the waves of life_," Stoick continued, his voice lowering only slightly. "_If you will marry me_." He paused and took a breath, taking Valka's hands in his own. "_No scorching sun_," he went on, his voice rising, "nor freezing cold, will-"

"_Will stop me on my jour_-" Gobber began excitedly, waving his hand. Heather, Hiccup, and Stoick alike glared at him, and Gobber's face twisted into embarrassment. "-Ney," he finished lamely. "Sorry."

Heather elbowed him, and Hiccup shook his head in silent shame.

Sighing only slightly, Stoick went on, "_If you will promise me your heart_…" He paused, hesitating only for a moment before continuing. "_And love_…?" he asked hopefully, nodding in a silent "okay" for Valka to sing her part of the duet.

But Valka remained silent, and Stoick sighed, looking back at the ground sadly.

_"And love me for eternity_…"

Hold up.

That was her Valka's voice, beautiful and calming and soothing all at once.

Hiccup, Hala, and Heather jerked their head up in their direction, watching as Stoick's features softened and Valka turn towards her husband.

She took a shallow, shuddering breath, and then continued. "_My dearest one, my darling dear_," she sang, "_your mighty words astound me...but I've no need of mighty deeds when I feel your arms around me._"

The song began to pick up, and without missing a beat, Stoick took his wife's hands in his and continued singing. "_But I would bring you rings of gold. I'd even sing you poetry_-"

"Oh, would you?" Valka laughed.

"_And I would keep you from all harm_!" Stoick went on. "_If you would stay beside me_!"

"_I have no use for rings of gold_!" Valka continued singing, the tempo of the song picking up just a little more. "_I care not for your poetry! I only want your hand to hold_!"

"_I only want you near me_!" Stoick sang.

Then, they began singing together as one voice, as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times. The tune modulated, and the tempo became faster. "_To love and kiss to sweetly hold, for the dancing and the dreaming_!" they said in unison.

Gobber stood up and began dancing with himself as Stoick and Valka continued. "_Through all life's sorrows and delights, I'll keep your love inside me_!"

Gobber grabbed Heather's wrist and pulled her up with him, despite her feverish protests. Hiccup laughed, but his laughing was ended abruptly when Hala yanked him up with them as well. Hiccup stumbled on the first few steps as he was yanked around as though he were the end of a whip, but he was laughing the entire time.

"_I'll swim and sail on savage seas_," Valka and Stoick continued, the tempo getting even faster as they did the final verse, "_with ne'er a fear of drowning. And gladly ride the waves of life, if you will marry me_!"

Gobber finally released Heather, which resulted in her and Hiccup tumbling into each other and crashing against Toothless, who then crashed into Windshear and Scarlett. Gobber, oblivious to the two of them, continued holding the word _me _out as if his life depended on it.

"I'M STILL GOIIIIIIINNNNGGGGG-" Gobber went on.

At length, the young trio finally got to their feet, and once they did, they elbowed the blacksmith.

"Gobber!" Heather laughed.

"I'm done," Gobber said.

They stood there, breathing heavily for a few moments and regaining their breath.

"I thought I'd have to die before we could have done that dance again," Stoick said breathlessly and very..._dreamily_.

"No need for drastic measures," Valka said reassuringly.

"For you, my dear," Stoick got down on one knee, "anything." He took her hand, holding it in his large ones. "Will you come home, Val?" he asked. "Will you be my wife once again?"

Valka's eyes softened, but she didn't say anything. Heather could see tears beginning to build in the woman's eyes.

"We can be a family!" Stoick said, standing up, putting his arms around Hiccup and Hala's shoulders and pulling them against his sides, along with Heather, his eyes on his wife at all times. "What do you say?"

Toothless bumped Valka from behind, and Valka chuckled softly. "Yes," she said, and that one word was filled with more emotion than any other word Heather had ever heard.

"Great!" Gobber walked up from behind them. "I'll do the cooking!"

The joke sent a laugh through the group. Hiccup, Hala and Heather broke away, letting the parents have some time to themselves. Hiccup and Heather stood beside their dragons once again.

"This is incredible," Heather breathed, saying the thing they were all thinking.

"I know," Hiccup said in the same breathy voice. He exhaled sharply through his nose, running his hands through his hair. "I've kinda forgot what it's like to have a mother." He looked at her through his bangs and smiled.

She smiled back.

"Thank Odin you didn't listen to me, you two," Stoick said from across the cave. "We never would've found each other."

Hiccup opened his mouth to respond, but then, all at once, Toothless, Scarlett and Windshear bared their teeth and growled towards the mouth of the cave.

Heather's smile quickly turned into a frown, and she stared at her dragon in confusion. "Windshear?" she questioned. "What's wrong with you?"

"Scarlett, Shortstuff?" Hala asks seeing her two dragons looking out.

"Toothless?" Hiccup said, putting himself in front of his dragon. "What's happening?"

Toothless didn't have a chance to answer. Outside the cave, they heard the sounds of dragons roaring in terror. Valka And Hala shoved past their family, raced outside the mouth of the cave, and ran to the edge of the cliffside.

Heather, Stoick, and Hiccup followed her closely, and they skidded to an abrupt stop as soon as they saw what was happening.

A fleet of ships surrounded the ice structure, bigger than any fleet Heather had ever seen before in her life. Bigger than the Berserker's fleet. Bigger than Berk's fleet.

This, was Drago's fleet. It didn't take a genius to figure out that much.

"Oh no," Hiccup and Hala whispered in union.

"Oh no" was right. Heather and her family were finally going to come face-to-face with Drago Bludvist.

And they were going to do it on the line of battle.

Hala knocked her fist into her palm, narrowing her eyes at the fleet of ships before her. "We can take 'em," she said determinedly. "Come on."

She was about to mount Scarlett as Shortstuff planted himself on her left shoulder, when her mother spun around on her heel and stormed back into the cave.

Stoick instantly ran in front of Valka, trying to stop her. "Val, Val, it's alright, alright," he repeated over and over again until finally his wife stopped. "We're a team now, now what do you want us to do?"

"We have to save the dragons." Valka said instantly, her voice sharper than Heather had ever heard it so far.

"Aye, you got it," Stoick said, turning as soon as the words left his mouth. "Come on, son!" he called behind him, and Hiccup chased after his father, followed quickly by Toothless.

"Heather, you're with me," Valka said, and Heather nodded. This was no time to argue. She wanted to go with Hiccup and Stoick, maybe help them, but at the same time, she wanted to help protect her mother-in-law and sister.

-

"Whatever comes," Drago shouted to his men. "Keep hitting the mountain! We need to draw the Alpha out!" Catapults were fired, boulders flying through the air and smashing against the ice cave. "Ready the traps!" the same commanding voice shouted.

Now that _really _didn't sound good. They looked down at the ground. Metal contraptions like bear-traps littered the white ground. Trappers and soldiers gathered around them, pulling cranks and lowering chains.

Hala was about to go down and destroy one of them, but then, gas surrounded one of the traps, and an instant later, the gas lit into flames and exploded.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut emerged from the smoke, mounted on their dragon. "SURPRISE!" Tuffnut cheered. "YEAAAAH!"

"WHAT!?" Drago shouted.

Heather let an evil smile flash across her face seeing the team's finally back together after two years apart. _Good. Let's see how this guy likes our dragons_.

"Dragon Riders, coming through!" Tuffnut screeched in triumph. "Yeehaw!"

"Fire!" Fishlegs' voice sounded from the South, and they turned her head in time to watch as the rider of the Gronckle pointed down at traps. Snotlout swooped downwards on Hookfang, and the Monstrous Nightmare burned traps to the ground, cheering as he did so.

"Ha ha ha!" Snotlout cackled like a dying mountain goat. "Snotlout, Snotlout! Oy, oy, oy!"

For once in her life, Heather smiled at her husband's cousin obnoxious battlecry. "Yeaha!" she cheered. "Go Snotlout! Go Snotlout!"

Snotlout jumped and jerked in her direction. His face was absolutely priceless. "WHAT!?" Snotlout blurted. Heather only smirked in response. "You're not supposed to AGREE with me!"

Heather shook her head and rolled her eyes. "It's good to see you again too, Snotlout!" she said.

The twins swooped down on their Zippleback. Barf breathed gas over the traps, and then, Stormfly soared over it and lit it. The dragons that had once been trapped were freed, and as soon as they were, they chirped at Stormfly and took to the sky.

"CUT, THEM, DOWN!" Drago commanded.

"HA, COOL!" Tuffnut laughed.

Valka glanced over her shoulder at Heather, and then shifted her gaze towards the dragon riders. "Heather, take out the catapults, if you can!" she called. "Help the others! Keep the dragons safe!"

Heather didn't argue. Instead, she nodded simply, turned Windshear in the opposite direction, and sped towards the traps and catapults.

"Windshear, barbs!" Heather ordered, and instantly, Windshear flicked her tail. Spines flew in all directions, snapping ropes and damaging catapults. More barbs were fired, and they sliced through chains of dragon traps, destroyed winches, and freed trapped dragons.

But there were more traps, and more catapults. More rocks flew through the air, slamming against the ice.

A large icicle fell straight through the air, cut off the ice spike structure from catapult ammo. It fell down, straight towards Stormfly, who had Astrid and Eret mounted on her back.

"Look out!" Heather shouted, hoping her warning was loud enough for them to hear.

Before they even had the chance to react, two blasts of purple light flashed through the sky, and the icicle was reduced to snowflakes by plasma blasts from the two Night Furies.

"Yeah, baby!" Hiccup whooped, despite their situation. He sounded way too excited for his own good.

Below them, soldiers shouted, "Take them down!" but before they could actually react, Gobber flew low over them, mounted on Grump.

"Heads up!" Gobber called in a very relaxed tone of voice. Despite the initial slightly-faster-than-snail-speed of the dragon Gobber was riding, Grump was able to knock the threatening soldiers unconscious, using his tail as a bludgeon.

"Ho ho ho!" Gobber chuckled, obviously enjoying every moment of this.

Hala flew alongside Hiccup, and Hiccup flew alongside Stormfly. "Welcome aboard, Dragon Rider!" he called to Eret, who was sitting in front of Astrid on Stormfly's saddle, holding onto the Nadder's horns for dear life.

"Congratulations!" Heather cheered as well. Eret was on their side now, obviously, and the Dragon Rider couldn't help but smile. That was one less trapper to deal with. "Welcome!"

"Thanks!" Eret called back, although he seemed very unsure of himself. Not unsure of his decision, but unsure of how to control Stormfly. "I think!" he added quickly after another moment.

Astrid laughed halfheartedly, and then looked back at Hiccup and Heather. "Where have you two been?" she asked. "And who is next to you and where did she get a Night Fury?

"Oh, you know," Hiccup said casually. "Just...catching up with Mom and my sister."

The look on Astrid's face was priceless, and Hala raised her mask to greet Astrid. if on cue, there was a cracking and a roaring.

They turned to watch as the Alpha smashed through the remainder of the ice cave, roaring all the while. Valka stood on top of Cloudjumper, her bullhook raised over her head, her mask once again covering her face.

Astrid gasped, her eyes wide and full of shock. "_That's _your sister and _MOTHER!?" _the Hofferson exclaimed.

"Wellp," Hiccup said casually, popping the "P", "now you know where I get my dramatic flair!" He flicked his helmet back over his face, and Toothless broke away from the rest of the dragon riders, towards the right with Hala right behind him.

"The Alpha! Now we have a fight!" Drago cheered.

That was kind of freaky. What did Drago mean? How was it a fight now? They watched as the Alpha froze Drago's soldiers, and some traps as well. Zipplebacks attacked, rolling like balls of fire.

How was Drago happy about this? With Valka's Alpha coming to help fight, Drago was sorely outnumbered.

One of the Zipplebacks got caught in a trap. Heather sped towards it on Windshear, followed quickly by Toothless and Hiccup.

"Come on, Windshear!" Heather cheered. "Let's free that dragon!"

"Show them what you got, bud!" Hiccup instructed Toothless at nearly the same time.

"Let's take them down, guys." Hala tells Scarlett and Shortstuff as they go in.

As soon as the dragons were given their commands, Windshear flicked her tail. Silver spines shot like arrows through the wind, dangerously fast and unstoppable. They sliced through ropes easily.

The Night Furies fired a plasma blast each at the remaining chains that Windshear didn't hit, and the trap exploded into purple fire. The Zippleback that had once been caught shot back into the sky, roaring happily, unharmed and free.

"Yeaha!" Heather cheered, throwing her hands into the air.

"I've waited a long time for this," Drago snarled.

And then, he stepped forward, and the madman and Heather's mother were brought into battle.

"You cannot take our dragons!" Valka said, swinging her bullhook, authority burning through her slightly muffled voice. "They are controlled by the Alpha!"

"Then it's a good thing I brought a challenger," Drago hissed, pushing against Valka's staff.

The timing was perfect. As if on cue, a second dragon rose out of the water, large, terrifying, horrendous…

Another Bewilderbeast, just like Valka's. No wonder. No wonder! Drago had another Alpha.

Drago had a challenger, just like he said.

A good challenger.

A worthy opponent.

"ANOTHER ONE!?" Hiccup shout, just barely from somewhere behind Hala.

"That is a class ten!" Fishlegs yelped. "Class ten!"

"No…"

"Come on!" Drago shouted at his Alpha. His attention had been drawn away from Valka easily, as soon as the dragon had risen out of the water. "Take down the Alpha!" Drago commanded.

"No!" Valka shouted. She swung her staff, hitting the back of Drago's head. The man spun around again instantly, his own bullhook at the ready to defend himself.

Drago tripped her and pried off her helmet. Now that Drago could see her face, she was filled with dread. Valka's eyes, so full of regret and fear and hopelessness…

Drago raised his bullhook…but was stopped. Stoick, was there and he was furious.

It wasn't hard to see why; Drago just attacked his wife, and then went for his family.

"Valka, think you can stop them?" Stoick asks her.

"I can try. Come, Couldjumper." Valka says and leaves to stop them.

Valka directed Cloudjumper to fly directly in front of the Bewilderbeast. She put her hand out to him and raised the bullhook, but nothing happened.

"Mom?" Hala questioned.

Valka tried again, seemingly oblivious to their voice. "I can't do it," Valka whispered, seemingly horror-stricken. She lifted her head to Hala and raised her voice. "I can't do it!" she said.

The Bewilderbeasts were fighting, and below them, Stoick and Drago were at each other's throats. The other dragon riders were attacking traps and blasting dragons free of nets, but even then, there was only so much they could do.

Their only hope of winning this battle was if Valka's Bewilderbeast killed Drago's Bewilderbeast. If he didn't…

There was no positive way to end that thought.

But then, just as Hala was about to shout for her mother to try again and to try harder, Drago's Bewilderbeast shoved Valka's and slammed him against the ground.

What could they do? It all happened so suddenly. Drago's Alpha pulled back, and lurched forward, burying his tusks into the other Alpha's stomach.

"No!" Valka and Hala both cried.

Valka's Bewilderbeast was dead.

-

Drago's Alpha rose to his full height, standing over the body of the deceased Bewilderbeast.

The Bewilderbeast was dead. The good Bewilderbeast; the Bewilderbeast that was on their side and that was going to help them win the fight.

At the same time, Hala was overwhelmed with fury. She steered Scarlett back, and sped towards the other dragon riders, who were still staring at the dead dragon's body in terror and she is now filled with anger, and plans on taking it out on Drago's men.

"Hiccup!" Heather shouted. Hiccup jerked his head in her direction, his eyes wide, his forehead and cheek smudged with small streaks of soot. "We need to finish destroying these traps, and then we need to talk to Drago!"

Hiccup remained frozen for a second, and then, he shook his head as if to knock himself out of a daze, and nodded. "Alright, yeah," he said. "Yeah, we do. You're right. Before...before anyone else is killed."

Heather nodded.

"Come on!" Heather shouted. "If we're going to attack, we have to attack soon, while we still have a fighting chance at beating this madman! Any ideas, Hiccup!?" She knew how to fight, but Hiccup had all the best strategies. She was good alone, yet she also was open to any suggestions her brother had for her, because he was so intelligent.

He beat a dragon hunter in intelligence, once, without hardly even trying. That was years ago, and since then, Hiccup had grown even wiser.

"Okay, Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff!" Hiccup ordered; the twins and Snotlout snapped to attention. "You three, go down first and give it everything you've got! Don't even worry about aiming unless you have a clear shot! Blast anything that threatens us!"

"That's our specialty!" Tuffnut saluted.

"Snotlout is going down! Whooo! Snotlout, Snotlout, oy, oy, oy!" Hookfang dove downwards, pursued by the twins on their Zippleback.

Heather would have rolled her eyes if they hadn't been on the line of battle.

"Alright, Fishlegs, Hala, Astrid, and Eret!" Hiccup shouted again, and the ones he called whipped their heads in his direction. "You guys go in afterwards, using the smoke to hide you from the attackers!"

"Got it!" Astrid shouted in response.

"Aye, mate!" Eret yelled back, saluting, much like Snotlout has, only Heather could tell that Eret's salute was sincere, whereas Snotlout's salute was just the Jorgenson playing around.

"You got it, Hiccup!" Hala said, and an instant later, she and the others shot downwards after Snotlout and the twins.

"Alright, Heather, you're with me!" Hiccup said as soon as his friends were out of sight, flying towards the ships like silver arrows. "You know what to do."

Heather nodded. "Talk to Drago, get him to change his mind?" she asked.

Hiccup nodded. "Only," he said, "maybe you should let me do the talking, at first, anyways. If I need help, I'll let you help me, but let me start it, okay?"

Heather rolled her eyes. Of _course _she was going to let Hiccup start it. He knew the right words to choose. He was _very _good with words. He opened her mind, changed Eret's mind, and Stoick's mind about dragons when the war against them first ended. Heather had no doubt that somehow or another, Hiccup would be able to change Drago's mind as well.

"Okay, I got it," she said, nodding her head in clarification. "Come on. Let's go fight ourselves a madman, Hiccup."

"Right behind you," Hiccup agreed, and the husband and wife turned their dragons and flew towards Drago Bludvist.

It took a remarkably short amount of time to locate the leader of the dragon trappers, and once they did, they took a few moments to analyze their situation: Valka and Stoick were no where to be seen, so they figured Stoick must have taken Valka to safety.

_But what's safety in this battle? _

"STOP!" Hiccup shouted, just when it looked like Drago was going to start shouting demands to his Bewilderbeast again. Drago froze for a split second before jerking his head in the direction of the sky as Toothless and Windshear flew in and landed on the icy ground.

Hiccup dismounted, and Heather did the same beside him. Hiccup took off his mask and tossed it behind him while Heather took to drawing her axe again, holding it in front of her threateningly.

Drago was even more hideous than the description given to them by Stoick. The scars on his face were white, the rest of his skin a dark - almost black - tanned color. He had obvious muscles; in a way, he reminded Heather of Stoick, by the way he was built with muscles and a bulky frame.

Drago smiled mockingly and let out a dark, horrendous chuckle that made Heather want to cover her ears. "_This_, is the great Dragon Master?" Drago laughed, pointing briefly in Hiccup's direction. "The son of Stoick the Vast?"

Hiccup glared back at Drago, but said nothing, and Heather did the same. Drago stopped laughing, his eyes narrowed.

"What _shame_, he must feel," Drago said, savoring his words.

Heather stepped forward threateningly, but Hiccup's hand set in front of her stopped her.

His eyes said it all: _Let me start it. I'll let you know if I need your help, alright? Let me do this by myself for now._

Heather put her hand on her hip, yet did as she was told. Hiccup was right; she had to let him do this, and it would work out okay. He could convince Drago to stop this fight, and if he couldn't do it, nobody could do it. Hiccup was their last chance, now that the Bewilderbeast was gone.

Hiccup took a step forward. "All of this loss," he said, gesturing to the battle raging around them, "and for what? To become unstoppable? To rule the world?"

Drago looked upwards and shrugged as if the idea were what he had been thinking the entire time.

"Dragons," Hiccup went on. "They are...kind, amazing creatures that can bring people together-"

Drago barked a loud "HA!" that sounded like he had been gargling with gravel. "Or tear them apart," he said darkly, reaching for his left arm with his right one. He gripped his forearm, and pulled his arm clean off.

Well, it wasn't really a flesh "arm", now that they saw it clearly. It was a prosthetic arm, made of metal that gleamed the color of silver. His real arm was...

Gone.

He hooked his arm back to his stump and approached Hiccup slowly. "You see," he said, "I know what it is like...to live in fear." He stepped around Hiccup, circling him, cutting Heather out of the circle. Heather had never felt farther away from her husband in her entire life, but she didn't step forward.

"To see my village burnt," Drago went on, "my family, taken. But even as a boy...left with nothing...I vowed to rise high above the fear of dragons, and liberate the people of this world."

"Then why a dragon army?" Hiccup questioned.

"Well," Drago said, "you need dragons to conquer other dragons."

"Or maybe you need dragons to conquer people." Hiccup took another step forward, his eyes as cold as ice. "To control those who follow you, and to get rid of those who won't."

"Clever boy." Drago said, his comment made under his breath yet intentionally loud enough for Hiccup to hear. But he didn't seem fazed, just yet, by anything Hiccup was saying.

Heather tightened the grip on her axe and looked towards Hiccup. _Can I jump in now? _

Hiccup shook his head. _Not yet_.

"The world wants peace," Hiccup said, his attention refocused on Drago, "and we have the answer back at our Edge."

_Here it comes_. It was now, or never. If Hiccup couldn't change Drago's mind and show him the truth, Heather knew this war would end in death. Lots of death and destruction. People would suffer. People would die.

"Just," Hiccup went on to say, "let me show you-"

"No!" Drago shot back, and Heather could have sworn her heart stopped, even if just for a second. "Let ME, show YOU!"

That was it. Heather raised her axe to attack him then and there, but then, Drago raised his bullhook and swung it in arching circles over his head, screaming all the while. The screams made them both stop; made them think twice.

The Bewilderbeast rose up behind him, its body towering. Heather knew that if she reacted against Drago now, the ice dragon would surely kill them all.

"No dragon can resist the Alpha's command," Drago said. "So, he who controls the Alpha...controls them _all_." He pointed his bullhook, right at Windshear and Toothless.

Instantly, the dragons began writhing and growling, throwing their heads back as if in pain. Heather lowered her axe, her attention now refocused on Windshear.

"Windshear?" Heather questioned. She tried to move towards her dragon, but Windshear only hissed and backed away further.

Across from her, Hiccup was trying to find out what was wrong with Toothless, but gaining the same results as Heather.

Fury was the next thing Heather felt. "What are you doing to our dragons!?" she screeched, stepping towards Drago threateningly.

Drago wasn't fazed. "Witness true strength!" he said. "The strength of will over others."

The dragons stilled all at once, all of a sudden, and then, they lifted their heads in unison, their pupils narrowed into slits that were blank, glazed over, and unseeing.

This just got a whole lot more terrifying.

"In the face of it," Drago went on. "You...are..._nothing!" _He lifted his bullhook from the dragons, pointing it directly at their riders. Toothless and Windshear turned around, Toothless facing Hiccup, and Windshear facing Heather.

"Ah…" Hiccup hesitated, his voice wavering, "what did he just tell you?"

-

"Are you alright?" Stoick asked Valka for the utmost time after finally managing to get his wife away from Drago with the help of Gobber.

Valka nodded quickly. "I'm fine," she insisted. "We have to go help the others."

Stoick just turned around, but then, his eyes fell on something he had been terrified of seeing: Windshear and Toothless, backing Hiccup and Heather away from each other.

Only this time, the dragons were snarling and growling. Stoick felt his blood run cold. He knew what the Alpha was capable of now, after seeing what happened, and if Drago's Alpha took control of Toothless and Windshear, and by the way the dragons were backing up their riders…

"No," Stoick breathed.

-

"Windshear!" Heather screamed. "Cut it out, Windshear! What are you doing!?"

The Razorwhip didn't listen to her. It backed her up, away from Hiccup and Toothless. She stole a glance over Windshear; Toothless was backing Hiccup in the opposite direction, separating the siblings.

"Hiccup!" Heather shouted, desperate to get to him, but trying to run to him was useless. Whenever she tried to move away from Windshear, the dragon snarled and snapped at her, forcing her to stay in place.

"Heather!" Hiccup shouted back.

There was nothing either of them could do. They could only step away from their dragons while pleading feverishly as they tried to get their dragons under control.

"Toothless!" Hiccup pleaded. "Come on! What's the matter with you!?" Toothless only snarled back. "No, no, no, come on, what are you doing?" Hiccup questioned. "Knock it off! Stop! Snap out of it!"

Toothless didn't "stop", and he didn't "snap out of it", and neither did Windshear. Heather felt powerless.

"Windshear, no!" Heather shouted in a last ditch attempt to make her dragon see reality.

"Toothless!" Hiccup yelled. "Don't!"

Then, faintly, Heather heard Stoick shouting Hiccup's name. When Heather lifted her head, Stoick running towards them.

_No. No no no no no_.

"No!" Heather yelled. Windshear raised her spiked tail threateningly, the barbs extending and gleaming against the bright sun. Heather knew what they were going to do, and they didn't want it to happen.

"Dad, stop!" Hiccup yelled. "NO!"

It all happened so suddenly, they weren't even one hundred percent sure what had happened at all. Heather was knocked to to the ground by something dark, and the _whiz, whiz, whiz, whiz, whiz _of the Razorwhip's darts shot through the sky. And all she could hear is purring.

And then, across from them, a plasma blast exploded, directly after Hiccup shouted, "Dad! No!". The blast was loud, and purple light danced before their eyes. She couldn't move, pinned to the ground.

Ice cracked.

Dragons roared.


	36. We never listen

Heather looks up and sees that it was Scarlett and Hala who flew in and shielded her from the Windshear's barbs as they looked to Hiccup and Stoick who was covered in ice.

"No." Hiccup says as he runs over to his father and Hala gasps at the sight of him before leaving Scarlett and Shortstuff to check on her father as Heather gets to her feet.

"Dad!" Hala call's as Hiccup and her turn him over on his back as Valka joins them and sees him.

Valka pressed her ear against Stoick's chest while Hiccup whispered, "Dad," over and over again. It took Hala a few moments before she realized that she was doing the same. Her father couldn't die here. He was too strong. He couldn't be taken down like this...he just couldn't.

Impossible.

But then…Terrifyingly enough…Valka shut her eyes with a small whimper. A tear rolled down her cheek, and she lifted her head, opening her eyes once again to gaze sadly at the children. The look in her eyes said it all.

"No," Hiccup whispered as if reading everyone's thoughts. He shook his head as if trying to shake himself out of whatever sick dream he found himself in.

But it wasn't a dream.

There was no waking up from this reality, no matter how sick and twisted it was.

"No, no, no," Hiccup whispered, resting his head against Stoick's chest. Heather couldn't see his face, but she saw his shoulders shaking and heaving with sobs that tore through his body.

Stoick is gone.

"No." Hiccup whispers as Toothless and Windshear wake up and the other riders join them and see what's happened.

Heather does the best to comfort her husband as Toothless walks up to them and smells Stoick's hand, not knowing what he did.

"No! Get away from him!" Hiccup pushes his dragon away as Toothless looks sorry for what he did. "Go on! Get away!" He tells Toothless who runs off in sadness.

"You know it's not his fault." Heather tells him as she feels just as sad and bad since Stoick was like her father.

As they mourn, the Bewilderbeast starts taking control of all of their dragons.

"Good dragons under the control of bad people...do bad things." Valka says as Drago sees Toothless can't fly on his own.

Dragon forces the dragon down and then controls him himself.

"Come on! Gather the men and meet me at the Edge! Then Berk!" Drago says and they're concerned for how powerful he'll become if he reaches the Edge.

"Toothless!" "Windshear!" "Shortstuff!" They shout as they fly off with Drago and leaves the Riders alone and defenseless.

-

They send Stoick on one of the only boats remaining to give Stoick a proper funeral as they light some arrows

"May the Valkyries welcome you and lead you through Odin's great battlefield." Gobber says as he cries. "May they sing your name with love and fury so that we might hear its rise from the depths of Valhalla, and know that you've taken your rightful place at the table of kings." He continues as he hands the bow and arrow to Hiccup. "For a great man has fallen. A warrior. A chieftain. A father. A friend."

Hiccup lights his arrow and aims at the ship and lights it in fire as everyone else does the same and they watch as the ship burns along with Stoick.

"I'm sorry, dad." Hiccup apologizes and Heather comforts her husband in his time of need. "I'm not the man he wanted me to be. And I'm not the peacekeeper I thought I was. I...don't know..."

Valka approaches the two and caresses Hiccup's hair. "You came early into this world. You and your sister. So frail, so fragile. I feared the two of you wouldn't make it in this world...but he always said the two of you would become the strongest of them all. And he was right. You have the heart of a chief, and the soul of a dragon. Only you can bring our worlds together. That...is who you are, son."

Hiccup looks and steps away from his family and watches the fire burn bright from the ship.

"I...I was so afraid of becoming my dad. Mostly because I thought I never could. So I decided to leave...become my own person. I mean, how do you become someone that great, that...brave, that selfless?" Hiccup asks. "I guess you can only try. A chief protects his own. We're going back."

"What are you planning?" Heather asks her husband.

"Something stupid." Hiccup says and looks to where the Edge is and Heather knows who he's thinking about, but there's one problem.

"Hiccup, we you already did stupid years ago." Heather reminds him.

"Then, something crazy." Hiccup admits.

"That's more I like it." Heather says with a smile.

"Excuse me, but how do we get back?" Snotlout asks him.

"He took all the dragons." Ruffnut informs them.

"Actually..." Hala says knowing there's a few left.

-

All of them are now flying on the baby Scuttleclaws that were left behind and fly their way through the glacier.

"We can't fly these things!" Tuffnut complains as the babies are just doing their own thing.

"Yeah, no kidding!" Fishlegs agrees as his baby flies through a snow pile.

"But won't that Bewilderbeast just take control of these guys, too?" Astrid asks them.

"They're babies! They don't listen to anyone." Hala explains to her.

"Yeah. Just like us." Tuffnut says.

"This is-Whoa!-very dangerous." Gobber says as his slams into the wall. "Some might suggest this is poorly conceived."

"Well, it's a good thing craziness runs in the Haddock blood." Hiccup says as he looks to Hala who laughs.

"So...What is your...plan?" Gobber asks as they go past walls.

"Get to the Edge, pray that the Razorfuries are still there, get some of our friends, use them to get Toothless and Scarlett back and kick Drago's..." Hiccup explains as a wall cuts off his wording and they make their way out.

-

They arrive at the Edge and the team lands and sees the entire island is deserted of dragons and their home is covered in ice.

"Oh no." Heather mumbles as they look over their once home.

Hiccup slaps himself out of it and then they start doing their dragon calls and they wait and hope they show when they hear a returning call and they look to see the Razorfuries are safe as they crawl out from under the wreckage.

"There you guys are!" Heather says as the babies run over and rub their heads on the legs of their parents Riders.

They kneel down happy to see not everything's gone and Hiccup runs to what's left of his hut and grabs something for Hala.

"What's that?" Hala asks and Hiccup shows it's a secondary flight suit.

"You said you wanted one. Now we just need to stop by and pick up one last member." Hiccup tells them and looks North.

-

The team are on their way back to Berk with the Razorfuries and see that they're too late as all of the dragons are flying around from the Sanctuary, Edge, and Berk.

"He took all the dragons." Fishlegs says as they see the alpha is leaning up on Berk that's covered in ice.

"Distract the alpha. Try to keep his focus off of Toothless and Scarlett." Hiccup tells them knowing they need the two Night Furies to stop him.

"How do we do that?" Tuffnut asks.

"Have you forgotten who you're riding with?" Erit asks him as they see him come up to them. "There isn't a dragon alive that I can't wrangle!" He says as the baby goes diving. "Except for this one!"

"Amateur." Snotlout says as they fly into Berk and the Haddock twins fly up to their dragons.

Hiccup flies up to Drago and Toothless with Blue and Hala goes to find Scarlett.

As they do that, a sheep comes leaping up as the team are using the Racer catapult to launch the sheep and the alpha was about to attack when he hears a horn and turns to the Thunderear.

When he turns back, a black sheep comes in and starts to fall down his face and blows it off.

It goes in to strike when a blast of ice forms from the side by Elsa who they picked up on their way and the alpha is seriously confused as she's hiding on the water horse.

Hiccup makes it to Toothless and Blue screeches happily seeing his father.

"You certainly are hard to get rid of, I'll say that." Drago comments on him.

"Toothless...Hey. It's me, bud. It's me. I'm right here, bud." Hiccup tells his dragon. "Come back to me."

Drago chuckles at his attempts. "He's not yours anymore. He belongs to the alpha. But, please, O Great Dragon Master try...to take him. He will not miss a second time."

At the same time, Hala flies up to Scarlett who was in the crowd of dragons.

"Scarlett...hey, it's me, girl. And I need you now more than ever." Hala says as she reaches her hand out to her. "We've been there for one another for years, and I'm not letting you go yet."

"It wasn't your fault, bud. They...made you do it." Hiccup tells Toothless as he reaches his palm out and Blue even rubs his head against his father and it seems to be working.

Hala reaches her hand out almost touching Scarlett's face and she seems to be fighting off the control.

"I know you'd never hurt me." Halal tells her dragon.

"You'd never hurt him. You'd never hurt me." Hiccup says as he places his palm to the dragons head as he's snapping free.

Hala does the same as it seems Scarlett has broken free and smiles before licking Hala's face causing her to chuckle.

"There's my good girl!" Hala cheers.

"How are you doing that?" Drago asks Hiccup.

"Please. You are my best friend, bud." Hiccup begs and Toothless breaks free and smiles and Blue screeches happily at his father and Toothless licks his son in return. "Attaboy! That's it! I'm here."

"Enough!" Drago yells and goes to hit Toothless when Blue grabs his stick using his mouth and Toothless throws him off.

"Yeah!" Hiccup cheers and Toothless falls with nobody helping him fly and Hiccup leaps off. "Hang on!"

The three start to fall as Drago lands on the alpha and Scarlett flies in and grabs Toothless before grabbing Hiccup and putting them together and they fly off.

"Do something!" Drago tells the alpha.

"We need to get those two apart." Hiccup tells Hala who agrees as they grab a piece of cloth each before the alpha starts shooting blasts of ice at them.

"We gotta block him out, guys." Hala tells their dragons.

"Do you trust us?" Hiccup asks and the dragons do as they cover their dragons eyes and ears. "We can do this. Together."

"Together as one." Hala agrees as they go flying in to the alpha as everyone cheers them on.

"Take control of them!" Drago yells at his alpha and nothing happens.

"Now!" Hiccup tells Hala as she understands when the alpha sends a blast their way and they dodge and the dragons fly up above where Drago sees the riders are missing.

He turns and sees the two of them using the flight suits and fly past and Hiccup gave Hala his spare Inferno he made so they both release Zippleback gas and then ignite it to send Drago flying and landing on the ground.

The twins look and see they're about time hit by the tail.

"Not again." Hiccup complains, remembering how he lost his leg.

"It's now or never, guys!" Hala says as the Night Furies use their extra wings to reach them both and they escape just in time.

"We did it!" Hiccup cheers as he separates from his sister to go to Drago.

Drago reaches for the staff and Hiccup lights up Inferno and throws it to stop him.

"Hold him there, Toothless. It's all over now." Hiccup says as the alpha spots them.

"Or is it?" Drago asks.

"Hiccup!" Hala warns him and Hiccup turns to see it as Toothless leaps in to protect him and the alpha spits ice at them.

"No!" Valka yells as she reaches the ice and everyone else runs up to see the ice starts to glow and it explodes to show Toothless is glowing blue all over and he roars at the alpha. Then he turns to Hiccup and sees he's okay and then Toothless leaps up the ice blast and screeches at the alpha.

"He's challenging the alpha!" Hiccup sees as Hala joins him on the ground.

"To protect you!" Hala finishes as they watch the two dragons fight.

"Go Toothless!" Everyone shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"Kick his tail, Toothster!" Heather cheered back.

For the first time in a long time, they were smiling genuinely as they watched Toothless take on their enemy.

No one could win against a furious father Night Fury, and that was exactly what Toothless and Hiccup were at that moment.

A furious father.

Toothless fired a plasma blast; the burst was a mix of purple and that same glowing electric blue, and it exploded against the Bewilderbeast's face like a firework. It was the biggest blast they ever saw come from that dragon in years, and it fascinated and amazed them both at once.

The Alpha's tusk smashed against the spike of ice Toothless was perching on, but Toothless didn't even seemed fazed. He fired again after taking residence on a spike of ice below the first one, and fired again at the Alpha.

Then, slowly but surely, the dragons that had once been flocking over the Alpha turned and hovered in the air over Toothless. The Alpha was losing his hold on the dragons; he no longer had power over their minds.

Hala turned and looked at Scarlett . The Night Fury shook the blindfold off her face, her eyes returning to their normal, innocent look.

Toothless was winning the battle for Alpha status. He was winning, and the dragons were coming to his side.

Hiccup suddenly raced forward, straight up to Toothless without fear. He leapt atop his dragon's back, and Toothless let him without protest, although his main focus remained on the Alpha.

No...not _Alpha _anymore.

The Bewilderbeast wasn't the Alpha dragon anymore.

Toothless was the King of all dragons.

"_This_ is what it is to earn a dragon's loyalty. Let this end now." Hiccup tells Drago.

"Never! Come on!" Drago replies, still believing he can win.

Toothless let loose another ear piercing roar, and then, all the dragons in the air over him and around him open fired at the Bewilderbeast. They hit him from every angle possible, all over his face, neck, and even some of his back.

The dragons stopped all at once, and Toothless fired one final plasma blast, aiming straight for the Bewilderbeast's tusks. The plasma blast exploded, and the dragon's tusk snapped straight off, leaving jagged spikes where it used to be. Black smoke poured from the gaping hole, and the former Alpha roared a mix of what sounded like fury and pain.

Toothless roared in triumph. He had won.

The Bewilderbeast _bowed_. He bowed to Toothless; to the new Alpha.

"The Alpha protects them all!" Hiccup shouted, his voice full of triumph, much like Toothless' roar. As if agreeing with what he had said, Toothless roared again, and behind him and above him, the other dragons did the same, cheering in victory.

The Bewilderbeast turned, defeated, and returned to the water from where it had come. It sank beneath the waves almost painfully slowly, but as soon as it was gone, the Berkians burst into cheers.

"YEAH!" Astrid whooped. She punched Heather's shoulder with more force than necessary but she couldn't control her excitement, and it nearly sent Heather crashing into Hala. "He did it!" Astrid cheered. "He did it!"

"He did it." Heather repeated.

Toothless and the other dragons raced back and landed on solid ground, Toothless standing in front of all the other dragons. Hiccup slid off Toothless' back and stepped away, watching in awe as the dragons bowed lowly to their new Alpha. Toothless straightened his posture and tried to look majestic, and it became clear that the dragon loved people bowing to him.

Then, the dragons lifted their heads and blasted fire into the air. They watched as the fires collided like fireworks, sending small, floating embers down upon the ground. It was beautiful to witness and amazing to watch.

Toothless raced back towards Hiccup, and Hiccup put his hands under the dragon's chin, smiling softly. "You never cease to amaze me, bud," Hiccup whispered. He rested his forehead against the dragon's muzzle and shut his eyes contentedly. "Thank you."

But the moment gets interrupted as Toothless licks Hiccup to the ground and continues and everyone laughs at that.

"Toothless, you know that doesn't wash out!" Hiccup tells his dragon when even the Razorfuries begin to lick the down Rider as Heather, Hala, and Valka laugh as the dragons reunite with their families.

"Windshear!" Heather shouts as she returns to her leaving Skullcrusher.

"There you are, Shortstuff." Hala says as her Terror comes back and licks her face.

"That was some pretty fine dragon-wrangling back there. You'd make a good trapped." Erit tells Hiccup as Skullcrusher nocks against him.

"You know, Skullcrusher is gonna need somebody to look after him now." Hiccup tells him.

"Me? I'd be honored." Erit says.

Valka then approaches her son and daughter. "Your father would be as bit proud of the two of you as I am."

"I'm really glad to have the two of you back in my life." Hiccup says and looks out to where the Edge once stood. "But we're gonna have to rebuild something new now."

"We're gonna need a new island as well." Heather replies.

"Well, I might have somewhere in mind." Elsa tells the two of them.

Hiccup and Heather look to their friend wanting to hear where she thinks they can rebuild their new home.


	37. The tale ends

Eight years have passed since Drago, and the riders have helped Hiccup and Heather rebuild the Edge, this time in a portion of land between Arendelle and the forest.

They call their new home the Sanctuary Edge.

They have changed and saved every dragon there is to save thanks to the help of the new alpha dragon Toothless.

Over time, their names have become the stuff of legends. The rescuers who risked their lives day after day to save troubled dragons as now nobody would think of harming a dragon.

They have saved every dragon that there is and now their new home is where anyone can find their dragon to train and ride.

They even brought in more people as they have a Rider for most of their dragons now. Even some people in Arendelle and the forest have one of their own.

"And those are the tales of the dragon riders." Johann tells a eight year old Hope who has grown and now has hair like her mother and an outfit like her father's, as on her lap is a sleeping Echo.

"Wow." Hope responds in amazement to the stories of their adventures.

"Johann, are you telling her more stories about the dragon riders?" Heather asks as she walks in.

Heather has grown over the years and her hair now goes over both of her shoulders and down to her waist.

"Only the finest of tales, miss Heather." Johann promises since Hope is the only one of them all that can actually stand his stories.

"Really? Aren't you out of those tales by now?" Hiccup asks as he joins them and he's even grown a beard the last couple of years.

"Oh, but there are so many adventures to tell." Johann tells them. "Which reminds me of a tale..."

Shortstuff screeches in annoyance of the man and throws his head underneath a pillow on Hope's bed to block him out.

Even the Razorfuries ran out of the room and took flight as their parents joined them in the air as Hiccup made Toothless a new tail so he could go flying with his family whenever he wanted.

"You ever wonder if she's gonna learn that we're the ones in the stories she loves?" Heather asks Hiccup.

"We could always tell her." Hiccup informs her.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Heather replies and Hiccup laughs as they watch their dragons fly off and around the Sanctuary Edge.

"Our lives were incredible." Hiccup states as he smiles at the night sky.

"Our lives _are_ incredible." Heather corrects him. "Just because we're not Night or Shadow Rider as much as we used to doesn't mean it's the end."

"Yeah, you've got me there." Hiccup admits as he takes Heather by the hip and pulls her into a kiss.

Hala comes down with Scarlett as do Valka and Cloudjumper just to see them kissing.

"Yikes, take it to the hut will ya?" Hala asks.

"Love you too, sis." Hiccup replies to her as Shortstuff flies up to her to escape Johann.

Elsa comes in riding the now frozen water horse where Hope spots her.

"Auntie Elsa!" Hope cheers as she runs into her aunt's arms.

"Hey, Hope. How's your parents and brother doing?" Elsa asks and the two begin talking.

Hope knows and loves everyone that they've met over the years. Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Mala, even Chief Astrid and her now husband Errit.

The people who live at Sanctuary Edge are the craziest of crazy, but those who believe it's worth protecting are crazier.

This isn't the end of their story, but their tales have come to an end.

Part of the journey is that the end comes sooner or later.

Now their journey is over, but their adventures are not done yet.

—

**_This is one of my longest stories to date._**

**_Thank you for your support, suggestions, love, and your criticism helped._**

**_But now, you have read the last of the Dragon tales. And as all great tales do, they come to an end._**


	38. We're baack!

**The Dragon Riders will return in****...**

**SECRET WARS ; BATTLEWORLD**


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